Ephram's Angel
by LadyRiona
Summary: EphramOC Ephram meets his new housemaid. She has a mysterious life and background. She is different from a lot of other people and seems to know a lot of things others don't. Where is she from? How did she get here?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own ANYTHING whatsoever from the WB show Everwood. I certainly wish I did, but I don't think that the network would let me with all of the crazy ideas locked up in my scary mind for the shows.  
  
A/N: If you don't like my story, don't read it. I'm not going to stop POV changes, no matter what any flamers have to say about it. They are fun, and they do not 'marysue' the story, or whatever you want to call it.  
  
Summary: Ephram meets his new housemaid. She has a mysterious life and background. She's not very open with her homelife, but can Ephram find out?  
  
Ephram's Angel  
  
Chapter 1  
  
~~~ POV-EPHRAM ~~~  
  
I threw my bag on the floor as I walked in my house. I sighed as he heard music coming from the kitchen. I knew my mom would kill me when she got home if the house wasn't clean so I decided to do two things: start cleaning in the kitchen, and investigate why the music was playing there. As I walked in the kitchen, I froze.  
  
'I must be in the wrong house.' I thought to myself. I was staring at a girl with dark, almost black hair, cleaning my kitchen. She was, at that point in time, filling a bucket of water up in the sink, lightly banging her head to the Linkin Park song Paranoid blaring through the radio.  
  
"Oh, you must be Ephram. I'm Karin. Your mom and dad hired me to do the cleaning here. My brother and I new in town, and I put up a work ad in the paper and a few hours later, you dad called me and hired me." Karin said quickly, wiping her damp hands on her jeans and extended her hand to Ephram.  
  
"Oh. Uh, yeah. I'm Ephram." I said puzzled. 'Wow, my dad had done something helpful to me-hired a maid so I don't have to clean.  
  
"Hi Ephram. Hi Karin." Delia said as she walked in the kitchen. She headed straight towards the cookie jar and hastily opened the top.  
  
"Delia, have you eaten a proper lunch yet?" Karin asked as she slowly strided towards Delia. "No." Delia replied her eyes downcast.  
  
"Then no cookies yet. I'll make you a sandwich." Karin insisted and started towards the fridge. "Thank you." Delia said as Karin finished making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  
  
"Don't make a mess please." Karin requested.  
  
"I won't!" Delia called as she walked into the living room to watch TV.  
  
Karin and I both laughed lightly. Karin cleared her throat and continued to make the solution for the mop. I watched her with growing interest at how swiftly her hands moved as she mopped.  
  
Suddenly, I heard a door slam that pulled me from my trance. I turned to see my mom entering the house with a smile on her face.  
  
"Ah, Karin. Good afternoon. I see you and Ephram have met already." My mom said.  
  
"Yes Ma'am. I'm almost done cleaning. I just need to finish mopping, then clean the counter tops, then I'll be done." Karin said as she stopped working for a moment.  
  
"Then won't you stay for dinner? I'll call your mom to tell her." Mrs. Brown insisted.  
  
"Um, no. If that's ok with you. I have a few things to do later. Plus, the joy of dying my brother's hair." Karin said hastily.  
  
"Oh, you do hair?" Mrs. Brown asked.  
  
"Sometimes." Karin replied, starting on her work again.  
  
"Well, Ephram is always needed someone to do his hair, would you mind doing it for him the next time he wants it dyed?" Mrs. Brown asked. "No, mom, that's okay. I can always do it myself." I interrupted. I was standing there watching the conversation being thrown between the two.  
  
"No, I'll do it. It'll be fun." Karin said with a smile on her face.  
  
My mom smiled and started on dinner. I went to my room and started on my homework with my music blaring through the speakers. I was struggling with the toughest subject I had in school-Algebra.  
  
Soon enough, I heard a knock on my door and saw my mom coming down, and turning down my stereo.  
  
"Come in!" I yelled, not looking up from my History paper I was working on, since I had finished Algebra.  
  
"Dinner's ready, and I convinced Karin to stay for dinner after some persuasion." My mom said with a wink. She turned my radio back up and shut my door.  
  
I turned out of my chair at my desk and walked towards my door, hearing my stomach growling over my music. I turned off my stereo, not wanting to miss the next few songs and left my room and went towards the kitchen.  
  
On my way, I saw my piano, and couldn't pass up the temptation to sit down on the bench and play through a song. I walked over to it, a grin on my face, and sat down at the bench. I laid my fingers on the keys and hit a few notes, hearing them as the beginning to Fur Elise by Beethoven.  
  
~~~ POV CHANGE-KARIN ~~~  
  
I was mesmerized by the music coming from the living room. I looked at Mrs. Brown quickly with an eyebrow arched.  
  
"Who's playing?" I asked, jerking a finger towards the music.  
  
"Oh, that's Ephram playing. He has a recital coming up soon, although that's not the song he's going to be playing for it." Mrs. Brown said, smiling.  
  
"Oh." Was all I said.  
  
"Why don't you go in the living room and listen?" Mrs. Brown insisted, shoving me towards the door leading to the piano room.  
  
I sighed as I stumbled through the door and slowly walked towards the piano, seeing Ephram with his purple hair behind it, lost in the music. As he finished the piece, he looked up at me and his cheeks flushed.  
  
"Were you listening?" He asked quickly.  
  
"Well, it's kind of hard not to hear it in the kitchen." I said, pointing backwards toward the kitchen.  
  
"Oh. Yeah. Do you play?" He asked me, jerking his finger towards the ivory keys.  
  
"A little. My mom taught me a few things." I said shyly. I felt odd around him, like I was missing something about him.  
  
"Sit down and show me what you know." He said, scooting over on the bench and indicated the rest of the bench beside him.  
  
"No, I couldn't." I said, drawing back almost.  
  
"Come on. I won't laugh." He said smiling.  
  
"It's not that, it's just that--" I said, but my voice trailed off.  
  
"What?" He asked me.  
  
"Nothing." I said and quickly sat down next top him at the piano.  
  
I picked out a few keys, starting to play BV's Boogie by Robert Vandall. As I finished, I blushed slightly.  
  
"That's really good. Your mom taught you that?" Ephram asked me.  
  
"No, I taught myself that a few years ago." I told him, standing up. "I've forgotten almost everything my mom taught me." I said painfully.  
  
"Oh." He said, standing up also.  
  
"Well, we should go eat. Dinner's probably cold already." I said as I started towards the door.  
  
"Yeah." Ephram said, following me towards the kitchen to eat.  
  
As we walked in the kitchen, there were two bowls of salad and two bowls of chicken noodle soup on the counter top.  
  
"Wow, who was playing a second ago?" Ephram's mom asked me.  
  
I didn't say anything but smile.  
  
"That was Karin, Mom. She taught herself that, she told me." Ephram said enthusiastically.  
  
"I don't play much anymore. I'm surprised I even remembered that." I said as I poured Italian dressing on my salad quietly.  
  
"Oh, well, I'm sure Ephram would be willing to teach you the piano again." Mrs. Brown said.  
  
"I couldn't, I wouldn't be able to practice any at my house, since I don't have a piano." I said, seeing a vision of my apartment in my brain and saw the mess there I had yet to clean up.  
  
"Oh. How old are you, Karin?" Mrs. Brown asked, changing the subject.  
  
"Seventeen and out of school. I'm going to be eighteen in four days." I said, sipping my soup. "Oh, cool." Delia piped in from the table.  
  
I smiled and finished eating in silence. I listened to the conversation carried on by Ephram, Delia, and Mrs. Brown about Mr. Brown, and the convention he was at in Atlanta. I sighed as I finished my soup and looked around. I felt relieved when I heard Ephram offering to take my bowls from me. I nodded and smiled slightly.  
  
"Well, thanks for dinner. It was great, Mrs. Brown. I guess I should be getting home now. My brother is going to be wondering where I am." I said, grinning slightly.  
  
"Alright, dear. We'll see you tomorrow afternoon, right?" Mrs. Brown asked.  
  
"Yes, ma'am." I said as I let myself out of their house and started towards my car. 


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2  
  
Disclaimer: I hope you do know that I don't own any of the songs mentioned in these chapters, correct? Because if you thought I did, I don't. Sorry to burst your bubble. Oh, please, don't flame me if you just don't like it because I mentioned in the first chapter that-oh, go read it yourself. I'm too in tact with an idea to look up to find it, so please enjoy my story which I am working on as well as The Dangerous Road, a Lord of the Rings ficcy! And alas! Do I see the review button all the way down at the bottom of the screen? I do believe I see it! It's just a click away! lol  
  
~~~ POV-EPHRAM ~~~  
  
I sighed as I looked out of the window and saw Karin driving off. Her car wasn't fancy. It was an old, beat up, rusty Chevrolet truck. He wondered why she couldn't afford a better car. He would wonder about it tomorrow afternoon when she was here.  
  
"Ephram, get ready for bed. It's almost 9:00." My mom told me.  
  
I nodded my head and took off towards the shower. I noticed how rank I smelled, and wondered how long I had smelled like that. I grinned as the thought passed through my head.  
  
I opened the door, and turned on the hot water in the shower, hoping Delia's bath hadn't drained all the hot water. Thankfully, it didn't.  
  
~~~ POV CHANGE-KARIN ~~~  
  
I reluctantly drove into my driveway that was littered with debris from last night's 'storm.' I opened up the door to my truck and closed it, dreading what my twin brother had to say about it. Then I cringed at what he could have done to my eight-year-old brother also.  
  
"John! Todd! I'm home!" I called as I locked the door on my way inside and threw my keys on the table.  
  
"John! Are you sober?" I asked cautiously walking into his room.  
  
"Yeah, for a while." He said, sitting in a corner of his room with Todd lying on the bed at his corner of the room.  
  
"Well, try to stay sober until I'm out of the shower. I smell terrible from the exhaust from that truck of yours I have to drive everywhere. Oh, and I'm taking the keys with me into the shower, don't even think about coming in there to get them and go out partying tonight. I have to get up early also, I have to do my classes at the school." I reminded him as I walked into the bathroom and threw the keys in had in my hand in the clothes hamper, knowing my brother would never find them if he was going to ignore my warning.  
  
I slipped my shirt off and threw it over the keys and made a mental note to never wear my tanktop again to work. I turned on the water in the shower stall and finished undressing and blasted the stereo my brother had conveniently left in the bathroom and heard Metallica blaring Master of Puppets.  
  
~~~ POV CHANGE-EPHRAM ~~~  
  
When I got out of the shower, I had gone back to my room to finish my homework. I sighed as I listened to My December by Linkin Park. It was their only soft song, and I loved it. It reminded me of Karin, though. My thoughts drifted back to the seventeen-year-old girl who was my new housemaid. I was called back to my room when I heard banging on my door.  
  
"Ephram!" I heard my dad call.  
  
"Yeah?" I replied, turning my stereo off. It was now playing Place for my Head by Linkin Park.  
  
"You met Karin today, right?" My dad asked me.  
  
"Yeah. She's cool." I replied, wondering what type of interrogation he had in store for me now.  
  
"Well, don't scare her away. When I asked her about her homelife and all on the phone two days ago, she wasn't real open, and sounded like she was quite nervous. I warn you not to ask her about her house." My dad warned me.  
  
"Yeah, right." I said, going back into my room.  
  
I sighed and turned my stereo back on and lay down on my bed, now exhausted. But dang, I still had to finish my homework. I growled under my breath as I sat up and faced the blank sheet of paper.  
  
'It's just an essay, Ephram. You'll live.' I thought to myself as I began writing about music for my art class.  
  
Eventually, I finished and looked at my digital clock. It was eleven now. I grumbled and got under my covers after throwing everything into my backpack for tomorrow. I closed my eyes, my CD player still on, but on a soft song now and fell asleep.  
  
~~~ POV CHANGE-KARIN ~~~  
  
I woke in the middle of the night in a cold sweat almost. I looked around and saw Todd standing there beside my bed.  
  
"Yeah? What do you want?" I asked erratically.  
  
"I'm thirsty." Todd said to me.  
  
"Alright. Come on." I said, getting out of bed and put my robe on then went into the kitchen.  
  
Todd followed me all the way there hastily. He watched my hands moving from one place to the other as I filled his glass with water.  
  
"What?" I asked him when I noticed his observations. "Where were you earlier today?" He asked me.  
  
"Hey, you're the genius of us, you figure it out." I said to him and watched him drink deeply from his water.  
  
"You like him, don't you?" He asked me with a hesitant gaze.  
  
"Who?" I pondered.  
  
"Your employer's son. Why else would you stay? John almost went crazy because you weren't here to dye his hair. I had to use reverse psychology on him to stay away from the bottle!" Todd said to me after he was done with his water.  
  
"Well, his mom finally got me to stay for dinner. I was going to come home, I swear, so you can't blame me." I protested.  
  
Todd nodded his head slowly in disbelief then went back down the hall of out trailer to his room and fell asleep again. I sighed as I realized I couldn't get back to sleep. It was only two A.M. and I knew I would be a walking zombie in the morning. I went to the couch and lay down with a book and a cup of coffee, if you want to call it that.  
  
Before I knew it, it was the butt crack of dawn. I was supposed to be waking up then. My coffee had long since been gone and my book long since finished for my class. I had written a report on it during those two or three hours. I mumbled something inaudible and got up to go to my room and change. Once I finished changing, I went into John and Todd's room and turned their light on.  
  
"Up. Come on. Time to get up!" I yelled for my ver obstinate brothers to wake up.  
  
Stirring was seen in Todd's bed as I yelled. I grinned slyly as an idea hit me smack in the head like a boot. I stalked over to John's bed and put my head close to his ear.  
  
"Wake up!" I yelled loudly in his highly sensitive ears.  
  
He immediately shot up in his bed from my calling and rubbed his ears. I about died laughing and heard Todd laughing as well.  
  
"I'm awake!" John yelled.  
  
"Yeah, now you are!" I said through tears of laughter.  
  
Once we all finished laughing, I left to make them breakfast and get them ready for their long days. I had to pack Todd's lunch, and make sure John had enough cash in his wallet for his lunch at the high school. I sighed as I threw Todd's lunch into his backpack and John's wallet by his bag.  
  
"Eat and be gone with you. I'm taking the car to classes today, all right? Then I'm going to go to work and be back at possibly four." I said as my brother's sauntered into the kitchen.  
  
They mumbled responses as they ate their oatmeal that I had quickly made for them. I sat at the table, proofreading my report to make sure it was on the right subject and I had all of my facts correct or my teacher would kill me in my second college class.  
  
"Karin, aren't you going to eat?" Todd asked me.  
  
"Ahh, no. I'll eat on the way to my classes. Oh, John, I took out your extra cash from your wallet so now you only have enough for lunch and a snack during homeroom. No other expenses, all right?" I reminded my very hardheaded brother.  
  
He nodded his head and put his bowl in the sink for me to wash later. Todd did so as well and they both headed for Todd's truck. I waved good bye to them and pulled together my stuff and left out the door.  
  
~~~ POV CHANGE-EPHRAM ~~~  
  
I grumbled as I sat down in my Algebra class and listened to my teacher ramble on and on about no CD players in her class. But never the less, I turned mine on and heard Saliva playing Rest in Pieces. When I realized something interesting was happening, I tuned in.  
  
"Class, this is John Dunlapp. He just moved here with his sister and little brother. John, take a seat by Ephram, the one with the CD player I specifically banned this morning." My teacher said.  
  
I grinned as I carefully slipped it back into my backpack as John took a seat by me. He looked a lot like Karin with his dark hair and dark skin. I figured I would ask him if he knew her or was related. My teacher began rambling again, and I painstakingly took notes on every little detail about the class. I sighed, as I knew this was going to be a very, very long forty-five minutes.  
  
Time passed quicker than I thought. It was already time for my English class, thank the Lord. I packed up my junk and left the class when I felt a tap on my shoulder.  
  
"Your Ephram, right?" John asked me.  
  
"Yeah." I said hesitantly.  
  
"My sister works for you." He mumbled and walked passed me.  
  
"Wait, Karin's your sister?" I asked, bewildered.  
  
"Yeah." He called back to me, and headed towards the English classroom.  
  
I followed him and took a seat in the back of the class. Surprisingly, John sat next to me. His eyes were downcast, I noticed, but tuned back in to my teacher as she started talking.  
  
"We have a new student today, class. His name is John Dunlapp. Stand up, John." My teacher said happily and motioned for John to stand.  
  
He warily did and sat back down quickly. I looked around the class and noticed a blonde girl sitting in the front I had had a crush on for the longest time. I looked at her, and felt nothing now. My cheeks didn't flush or anything. I winced slightly and listened to my teacher talking about poetry loudly, as if getting my attention.  
  
~~~ POV CHANGE-KARIN ~~~  
  
I rushed to my car to go to work after my class. My teacher had, thankfully, accepted my paper, although, I quote: "It's sloppy, Karin, but I'll take it. Next paper, make it neater." I wanted to spit right then and there all over her desk, but I couldn't, dang it. I soon forgot about everything else after I got into my car and started driving. I turned my radio on, and listened to Evanescence on the radio. She was singing My Immortal. I loved that song.  
  
"These wounds won't seem to heal." I sang along with the radio threw the entire song in key until I arrived at Ephram's house.  
  
I turned my radio off and started up into his house to clean. Delia was home, so I would have someone to look after and to talk to if I needed, but that was the last thing on my mind.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Agh, I know this chapter sucked. But I'm out of ideas on how to get from one place to the other. Yeah, I have parts in my notebooks here and there. If you all have any ideas on what you would like to happen or something, email me (elves_and_black_hawks@yahoo.com or ringbearer888@yahoo.com) or IM me. I have AIM. My IM name is in my profile. TTYL!  
  
All for one, and one for all!  
  
~Aramis~ 


	3. Author's Apologies to all I

Okay, all. I apologize that it's been a while since I have updated, but I do have a life as well that I gotta work, I gotta do school, and a lot of other junk too. I am in the process of writing the next chapter. It will be up as soon as I do my file work and get it up and ready to upload, then, my friends, then it will be up and ready for you all to read, so PLEASE be patient with me until then. It will be before Saturday I hope, or else it will be Monday because I gotta do something on Friday I think..but anyhoo...please bear with me on this all, everyone, and you will be rewarded with more chapter! Diola lle mellonamins, and if you want to know what that means, read my Lord of the Rings fic or The Mystery of Love by Tainted Elf. But chapter 3 is coming!  
  
All for one, and one for all!  
  
~Aramis~ 


	4. Chapter 3

A/N: This may be a very terrible chapter, I warn you. Valenil. thanks for helping me out here on this one. Gave it a good point on it. Well, hope you all enjoy this chapter that's gonna be really boring, with a capital 'B'. Oh, and I DON'T own Everwood, although it's a great show. Sorry this one took so long! Work got hold of me and all.  
  
Chapter 3  
  
POV-KARIN  
  
I opened the door to Ephram's house slowly and heard the TV in the living room. I walked into the family room and picked up the small mess in there quickly. It wasn't a big mess, thankfully, but it took me a reasonable time to clean it to my own satisfaction. I surveyed the room from all angles and didn't notice a flaw anywhere, thankfully again. I smirked as I went into the kitchen and retrieved the window cleaner and wood polisher and some paper towels.  
  
I hastily cleaned the windows, but took care to get all of the streaks out. I looked at the coffee table and whipped out the wood polisher and sprayed a small amount on the center and corners of the table and wiped all over, making the pine table look brand new, finished wood. I replaced the cleaning items and stalked into the living room.  
  
"Hi Delia." I said softly as I left the door open and began to pick up in by the TV.  
  
"Hi Karin. How's your day?" She asked me happily.  
  
"It's all right, I guess. How about yours?" I replied.  
  
"Fine. But school was boring, as usual." She told me casually.  
  
"Oh, yeah. Same here." I said as I threw something in the trashcan  
  
"I thought you said you were out of school." Delia said sounding puzzled.  
  
"I am, but I'm taking a course in college for professional writing. I want to be a journalist when I finish that course." I said sounding excited most probably.  
  
"Oh, cool. I want to be one of those people who work at the animal shelters." Delia said with a grin on her face.  
  
"Cool. I don't have any pets. My house is too small." I replied, my voice condescending slightly.  
  
"Oh. We can't have any because my dad doesn't like them, but Ephram wants a dog. I want a guinea pig." A smile was ever growing on Delia's face as she spoke.  
  
"That's interesting. Well, I'm going to go do some dishes, all right? Have fun watching TV." I said after I finished cleaning up the living room and started back towards the kitchen.  
  
I slowly walked into the last room I was aloud to clean and set all of the dishes into one of the tubs in the double sink. I ran the water in the other tub and rolled up my sleeves. As the water ran, a song came back into my head. I grinned slightly as I hummed the tune to My Immortal again since it was still in my head. I sloshed the water slightly as I poured in a small amount of the dish soap and watched the bubbles form in the sink quickly.  
  
~~~ POV CHANGE-EPHRAM ~~~  
  
I walked in the house hearing two things: the TV tuned in to nickelodeon and that Delia was watching it, and the water running in the kitchen, indicating that either mom was home early or that Karin was here cleaning.  
  
I assumed Karin was here from the small amount of a musical tune coming from the kitchen. I followed the heavenly sound and found it led me to the kitchen and the sight of Karin's long, flowing brown hair swaying slightly as she moved from place to place in my kitchen.  
  
"Hi Ephram." She said without turning around.  
  
"How did you know it was me?" I asked, puzzled.  
  
"Well, for one, yesterday, you got home around three-thirty, and it's that time now, two, you didn't say anything to me at first after I heard the door open and shut here and the front door." Karin said, draining the water from the sink and reaching for a dishtowel.  
  
"Oh. You have good hearing." I told her, sitting down at the bar and taking out my French notebook.  
  
I started working on my homework, whilst Karin hummed a lively tune that I didn't recognize, although it sounded tantalizing. I grinned slightly and continued on from French to Algebra.my worst subject in school.  
  
"Karin, I met your brother today at school." I said after a while.  
  
Karin stopped humming and looked up at me from where she had been standing while she cleaned off the counter tops. She winced slightly as she heard it and shuddered.  
  
"You met my brother?" She said, her eyebrows knitted together.  
  
"Yeah. He's cool." I said, hiding my confusion.  
  
"Oh. I didn't know that John had been enrolled in you school. How'd you both meet? Lunch?" She asked me, continuing to wipe at the counter tops.  
  
"That and we have the exact same schedule." I said matter-of-factly.  
  
"Oh. Cool. Well, I'm almost done cleaning, so I guess I'll go after that." She told me in a small voice, quickly changing the subject from her own life.  
  
"All right. You won't stay for dinner again?" I asked slowly and sounding falsely hurt in a sense.  
  
"Nah. I can't today, but thanks though. I have to get home and cook for my family." She replied, packing up her belongings in her pack which was by the kitchen door.  
  
"All right. Then if you don't want to stay here for dinner again, you might want to leave before my mom gets home." I said, arching an eyebrow.  
  
"Okay. Bye Ephram. Oh, and tell Delia I said bye too, please." She said and started towards the door. I argued with myself for a minute with the thought running through my brain before I finally decided what I was going to do.  
  
"Karin." I called after her right before she walked out of the kitchen.  
  
"Yeah?" She asked me, turning around.  
  
"Since you turned down dinner tonight, you want to do something this Friday?" I asked with hope in my heart seeing if it was false.  
  
"Uh.sure! Um, what did you have in mind?" She said.  
  
My heart jumped for joy as I thought, "How about dinner and a movie? I know it's corny, but it's the best I could come up with in five seconds."  
  
"Sure. I'll meet you there, eh?" She said and winked then headed towards the door.  
  
I grinned as I heard the door slam as she left. I heard her car drive off and soon go out of hearing range. I slapped myself back to reality as I remembered the load of homework I had to do before tomorrow. I had a few more problems to do in Algebra, then had to do my English work, then I think I had an assignment in art class, but was a project that I had two weeks to do and would do later. It was an oral report on modern art.  
  
"She said yes." I murmured before getting back to my Algebra.  
  
~~~ POV CHANGE-KARIN ~~~  
  
"I said yes? How could I have done that? Dinner and a movie. Oh, Karin, you're such a dolt! You're going out on a date with your employer's son! His son! Oh, man.what I am going to wear?" I wondered as I pulled into an intersection.  
  
I asked myself plenty of questions like what movies were good, was it going to be a friendly date or a romantic one, what if he tries to kiss me and a whole lot of rot like that. I was in for it. I couldn't tell John or Todd, but my genius little brother already knew that there was something going between us before he even met Ephram or saw us together. John, I hope, didn't scare the poor boy away today by something.  
  
Before I knew it, I was at he turnoff to my house.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Hey all! Sorry this was so short, but the next one's gonna be good. I'm gonna be gone for a few weeks perhaps, so I'll be writing while I'm down there and be ahead (hopefully). So just hang in there and read my LoTR fic if you like LoTR! Well, God bless all!  
  
All for one and one for all!  
  
~Aramis~ 


	5. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own anything that does not belong to me. Does that make sense? Didn't think so, it wasn't supposed to. Well, it finally dawned on me that I could post here as well on my vacation. So here is my chapter! Thanks for being patient and bearing with me!  
  
Chapter 4  
  
POV-EPHRAM  
  
I slowly ate my dinner with my mom and sister. My dad was at work. My mom had cooked spaghetti and meatballs, Italian style. It had a side dish of macaroni and cheese.  
  
"Ephram, would you mind cooking dinner tomorrow night? Your dad and I are going out. He'll be coming back from work tomorrow afternoon." My mom asked me.  
  
"But tomorrow night's Friday." I said, looking up from my half full plate.  
  
"Yeah. I'm glad you know the days of the week finally, Ephram." My mom said sarcastically.  
  
"But I have plans!" I put in.  
  
"With.?" She asked.  
  
"A friend that you can trust." I said slowly.  
  
"Which friend?" She asked me skeptically.  
  
"Is this turning into an interrogation?" I asked finally after a long pause.  
  
"Only if you want it to be one." I heard a new voice enter the conversation.  
  
"Dad!" Delia screamed and ran to my dad's arms.  
  
"You weren't supposed to get home until tomorrow." My mom said.  
  
"Well, they let me out early. The surgery on Mr. Chaplin was canceled and moved to next week." Dad said.  
  
"Oh." Delia said and hugged dad again.  
  
"Well let's still watch the movie." My mom said.  
  
"What movie?" Dad asked.  
  
"Lilo and Stitch." I said and pulled the DVD from the cabinet.  
  
"Oh, alright." My dad said.  
  
"But first let's finish eating. Dish up some spaghetti, Andy." Mom said.  
  
"Okay." Dad replied and kissed my mom on the cheek.  
  
When we finished eating, I picked the DVD up again and put the disc into the CD rack to play. I sat down and quickly hit the menu button to pass up the evil commercials. Delia and mom came back in with popcorn and drinks.  
  
"Ephram, you have Pepsi, is that all right?" My mom asked me.  
  
"Yeah, sure." I said and took my soda from Delia.  
  
I hit the play button and watched the opening credits. Time passed by quickly through the movie. We laughed, Delia cried near the end and felt better when Stitch would stay in Hawaii. That made us laugh harder.  
  
"Dad, can we move to Hawaii?" Delia asked when I was putting the DVD away and cleaning up.  
  
"Maybe." Dad said.  
  
"All right, time for bed. It's almost 10'o clock." My dad said, looking at his watch.  
  
I grinned and started walking down the hall towards my room.  
  
"Yeah, but I still have plans tomorrow night I'm sticking to." I said and turned around to face my dad.  
  
"Fine. I'll call Mrs. Cleary to see if Delia can stay at Mary's tomorrow night." Mom suggested.  
  
"Yeah!" Delia piped in.  
  
I laughed as she ran to her room to change. I walked into the bathroom to brush my teeth.  
  
"G'night mom! G'night dad!" Delia yelled as she entered the bathroom to brush her teeth.  
  
POV CHANGE-KARIN  
  
I looked around and saw flames surrounding me. I tried to get out of the car but the door was locked and I couldn't get it undone. I picked a blunt object off of the floor of the vehicle and slammed it against the window. I saw a large crack form there and I beat against it again until it finally broke open. I slipped out of the window carefully, but not carefully enough.  
  
I grabbed at my wrist and looked down to see blood seeping through a large gash obtained by the broken glass. I ignored it, knowing of the much important job to deal with here and ran down the street as fast as my short legs would take me. I looked around as I reached the market for them. After a moment of searching, I finally found my parents, and the darkness around them. I scowled at the man behind them reaching into his trench coat and pulling out a .38 millimeter pistol.  
  
I watched his movements that I had long since memorized to see if anything was different. I ran towards him, seeing everything was the same, and jumped in the air to tackle him, but flew through him again, as I usually did. He pointed the small gun at my mother slowly.  
  
"No!" I yelled and woke up in a cold sweat.  
  
I was breathing erratically as I heard heavy footsteps coming towards my room and my light flicker on.  
  
"Karin, what's wrong?" I heard John ask.  
  
"She had her dream again, idiot!" Todd yelled.  
  
"I know! Shut up, munchkin!" John yelled back.  
  
"Cess pool!" Todd screamed.  
  
"Moron!" John screamed again.  
  
"Shut up both of you, stupid heads!" I cried.  
  
"Sorry, Karin." They said simultaneously.  
  
"I'm fine and Todd's right. I had the dream again." I said, looking down in my lap.  
  
"Well? Did you get any further?" Todd asked.  
  
I nodded my heard and clutched my stomach.  
  
"He shot mom first." I finally said.  
  
"I knew it! Pay up!" Todd yelled, his hand outstretched to John.  
  
I rolled my eyes as John passed Todd a 10 dollar bill for guessing who was shot first.  
  
"You two are materialistic weasels." I said. "Go back to sleep. Oh! I won't be coming home 'til late tomorrow night. I'm going out to the movies with someone." I added.  
  
Replies came from both of my brothers as they walked back to their rooms.  
  
~~~~ T B C ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Done for a while! I'm working on chapter five which will blow your minds away. Heheh. I will finish it and post it when I'm done if there is enough time between postings. Oh, and I give credit to my mom for helping me out with a few things in chapter 5 and it will no longer be sad! I changed my mind and decided not to be evil. I may or may not tell those that want to know bad enough what I had planned. Depends on my mood when I am writing the ending. But I'll keep you posted, literally. 


	6. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: No, I don't own Everwood yet.though I really wish I did. Uhh.a special thanks to the following people for reviewing to faithfully to my ficlet:  
  
Meg: Thank you, my friend, for being there to talk to through email and for reviewing. Stay safe, my friend! Oh, I did email you telling you that you were right (now you were because of my mom..;)) that there IS a connection between Doc Brown and Karin, which you'll find out in this very chapter. : -D  
  
Valenil: Thanks, Josh. You were the first reviewer of my story and I really thank you for that. I'll see ya on Monday!! Take care!  
  
Faith: Thanks for reviewing, I hope you like the rest of the ficlet, although it may get a little boring later on then get better, but that's for everyone there. And a special note from your review a few days ago: Karin's name is pronounced Care-rin. Keep reading and enjoying!  
  
ShaniaTwainRox74: Thank ya for your reviews. You've been there (along with most others) from the beginning of this story and I hope you're here until the end.  
  
Now, on to the story!!  
  
But first, special thanks to my mum also for helping me with the plot twist for this chappy here. Thanks mommy!!! lol  
  
Chapter 5  
  
POV-KARIN  
  
It was midday and I had to get to Ephram's house to clean. I pulled off of the clover speedway and into the condominium complexes. I noticed a different car in the Brown's parking area.  
  
'Mrs. Brown must have had the day off and has a friend over, but her car isn't here.' I thought.  
  
I shrugged it off and carefully parked my car in visitor parking and grabbed my wallet then put it in my jacket pocket. I walked to the elevator and shook my head. I looked down at my shirt that was slightly over my belly button. I pinched the flabby bit of skin there and laughed. Then another thought hit me.  
  
'I'll take the stairs today. I need to get back in shape.' I thought.  
  
I chuckled and sprinted up the stairs to the sixth floor. When I reached the top flight of stairs there, I was gasping for air. I pulled a hair cord from my pocket and wrapped it around my dark tresses. I slowly opened the door, still puffing for air, and walking into the living room. I started cleaning the small mess in there up. When I finished that, I walked into the family room and put books back up on the large book case, stacked papers in a small pile and set them where the other papers were, and then finally surveyed the large room.  
  
"Perfect." I told myself and decided to go to the kitchen and clean there. When I walked in, I had a big surprise.  
  
POV CHANGE-DOC BROWN  
  
I put the pickle jar back in the refrigerator and shut the steel door. I started to take a bite of my sandwich I had just made when I heard a small yelp of surprise. I quickly turned around and saw a raven-haired girl with caramel colored skin. Her eyes were brown and wide with fear and astonishment. Her mouth was slightly opened to form the letter O.  
  
"Doc Brown!" She yelled.  
  
"Karin!" I yelled back.  
  
Karin ran over to me and hugged me happily.  
  
"How long has it been since I saw you last?" I asked her.  
  
"Three years, but it seems like three centuries or millenniums." She said sarcastically with tears in her eyes.  
  
"Oh, it's been that long? How's your uncle?" I asked after she was standing a few feet away from me and was zipping up her jacket.  
  
"Would know. He bought us a trailer two years back and we've been living there since." Karin said, wiping at her eyes with the sleeve of her nylon jacket.  
  
"Dad?" I heard my son asked my. "What's going on?"  
  
"Well, it turns out that I hired Charles' niece." I said.  
  
(A/N: Remember in that episode when Colin was having brain surgery? The guy that came in to help Doc Brown with the surgery, that's who Charles is. Yeah, thaaat guy. ;))  
  
Ephram's jaw dropped to the floor. He furrowed his brown and stuttered out a few words before I heard Karin giggle at him.  
  
POV CHANGE-EPHRAM  
  
I stuttered much to my disappointment because Karin was now laughing at me. I cleared my throat and finally started to talk correctly.  
  
"Karin is Charles' niece?" I stammered quickly.  
  
"Yup." Karin said, nodding her heard with a happy grin on her face.  
  
I looked back at my dad and back to Karin again. A grin crossed my face also.  
  
"I knew your voice sounded familiar on the phone, but I couldn't place it exactly." My dad said after a while of smiling at each other.  
  
Karin laughed richly and turned to start cleaning the countertop again. My dad turned with her and opened his mouth to talk.  
  
"Don't even think of cleaning again today. You can take the rest of the day off and talk with me and Ephram." My dad said to her.  
  
"Are you sure?" She asked skeptically. My dad nodded his head in assurance.  
  
Karin beamed and smiled. My dad walked into the living room, but poked his head back in the room.  
  
"I'm going to go take a shower. Delia went to Mary's house from school and your mother is working late tonight, so I'll be out in a minute." He said and Karin and I nodded.  
  
I motioned for Karin to sit down at the bar across from me. She nodded and sat down then started fidgeting with her finger ring on her right hand. My eyes trailed to her left hand. I saw a diamond ring on her ring finger and wondered what exactly it meant.  
  
"What's that ring mean exactly?" I asked, pointing at the clear gem.  
  
"Oh, it's my birthstone. My mom bought it for me a long time ago, before she died." Karin said.  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry." I said sympathetically, but not knowing what it was like to not have a mother, but had a strange feeling that one day I would know the feeling so that I could relate to her.  
  
(A/N: How right it he? Lol)  
  
"It's all right. That's why my brothers and I moved in with my uncle for five years. I was twelve then, which remind me of two things." She said, her frown turning upside-down.  
  
"What's that?" I asked.  
  
"Well, the first thing is, it's my birthday today and I completely forgot." She said, reaching behind her neck and fidgeting with another thing there.  
  
"What was the second thing?" I asked as she unclasped a chain from her neck.  
  
"This." She said seriously and handed me the chain with care.  
  
"Wow, how did you get something like this?" I asked, fingering the smaller diamond ring on the gold chain.  
  
"It's my baby ring. My aunt gave it to me when I was two weeks old." Karin said twisting her own ring she was wearing on her left ring finger.  
  
"Does-does that one have a differing meaning other than your birthstone?" I asked shyly, pointing at the ring on her finger.  
  
"No, or course not. I don't even have a boyfriend yet." Karin said quickly. "It did one time." She murmured.  
  
"Hmm?" I asked suddenly, hearing her mumble.  
  
"Nothing. I might tell you later." She said quickly again.  
  
I nodded and started to hand Karin's ring back to her.  
  
"No, no, keep it. I'm giving it to you because in my heritage, I'm Asian, on someone's birthday, they five a gift to their newest friend." Karin explained.  
  
"I couldn't take this. You've had this for almost 18 years." I said,  
  
Karin eyed me and said, "It's dishonor on what I have of a family if you don't accept my gift. Besides, it'll keep making me feel old when I take it off to shower or something. It is 18 years old, my aunt and uncle had it from the day I was born and had to get the gold chain since the stuff in silver irritates my skin." She smirked slightly at saying all this.  
  
POV CHANGE-KARIN  
  
I smirked slightly and watched as Ephram furrowed his brow at me slightly in minor confusion. I chuckled at him as I remembered something quite important. The smirk on my lips quickly turned into a straight, thin line.  
  
"Are we still on for tonight?" I asked suddenly.  
  
"Yeah, of course. I mean if you still want to." Ephram said.  
  
"Course!" I said hoarsely, much to my utter disappointment. "It could be my birthday present from you." I added happily.  
  
Ephram grinned and moved to sit beside me. I smiled shyly as the gap between us slowly closed. I looked down in my lap then quickly looked back up at him. Thoughts flashed through my head telling me it was all right and more so of them saying it wasn't a good idea to get close to someone like this. Much to my own, personal relief, we were interrupted.  
  
"Karin, I called your uncle a moment ago and he said he'd be thrilled to see you again on Monday afternoon at his office in the hospital." Doc Brown said to me.  
  
"Alright." I said shyly. "Doc Brown, since today is my birthday, Ephram said he'd take me to the movies, is that all right with you?" I added.  
  
"Oh, so you're his friend he was talking about last night at dinner. Yeah, you two can go." He said.  
  
"Thanks, Doc Brown." I said, a cheeky grin on my face.  
  
"No problem. What movie did you guys plan on seeing?" Doc Brown asked.  
  
I shrugged and tilted my head to a side, my black hair flitting around my face slightly from my now loose ponytail. I pulled my hair down to fix it as Doc Brown laughed slightly. I grinned as I put my hair up in a bun now.  
  
"Let's see. I would recommend Daredevil. Julia and I saw it a few days ago before I went to my convention in Los Angeles." He suggested.  
  
"Daredevil.hmm. I like it. Ephram?" I asked.  
  
"Sure." He replied simply.  
  
"I'll arrange a car service for you two tonight and Julia would be more than happy to take you out for a new outfit for tonight, Karin." Doc Brown improvised.  
  
"No, you don't-"  
  
"Karin, it'll be our birthday present to you." He insisted.  
  
"If you say so." I said unwillingly.  
  
I unconsciously slipped over Ephram's slowly. He looked at me strangely before accepting it. He grinned and curled his fingers around my hand.  
  
"Well, I'll go call Julia and the car service before it's too late." Doc Brown said then left Ephram and I alone again in the kitchen.  
  
"Alright." I called uselessly to him. "What to do now?" I added.  
  
"I can think of a few things." Ephram said, a sly grin on his face.  
  
"Oh, men all have the same mind." I said as I quickly placed a kiss on his cheek.  
  
I laughed as his cheeks turned a crimson color.  
  
"Thanks, Ephram." I said.  
  
~~~ T B C ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
I put in that last kiss for you all. And for me since I like a small amount of romance. ( I'll be gone all weekend and probably won't be updating until Tuesday or Wednesday when I get home. Yes, I'm still on my trip and I'm getting home Monday morning, EARLY! And will be at school then, happy joy. But hope y'all liked this chapter!! Oh, and yes, I think it's true what Karin said about men. You all have the same mind that revolves around girls, and a few other things I shouldn't mention in here, but you can email me to see if you know what I'm talking about if you want, and please, no flames for anything I screwed up in on information. But please, don't forget to review! The button's right there! * Points at the button but you can see me because I'm behind the computer screen;) * 


	7. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own this fabulous show, which I regret and admit that I haven't watched in a while, and I hope that they were reruns. But there is going to be a bit more humor in this chapter. * grins wickedly* Heehee, but please, do enjoy this. Oh, and whoever can guess what Karin's trying to say in her insult gets a cookie. Enjoy! Oh, and sorry for the long wait on the update. I've been busy with school and recovering from my trip. But this one is about 11 pages in my notebook, so it's gonna be pretty long.  
  
Chapter 6  
  
POV-EPHRAM  
  
I sat at the bar in my house with a glass of fizzy water in front of me. I sipped it to help settle the butterflies in my stomach, as my mom would say. I smiled as thought drifted to Karin. I wondered what she would be wearing tonight. I then looked down at my slacks and blacks shirt and wondered if it was all right to wear. I nodded and started drilled my fingers on the counter top in boredom.  
  
Finally, I decided to check my email to pass the time. I walked from the kitchen into my room and sat at my Dell computer. I signed my AOL account on and saw that my friend Sarah was on. She immediately IMed me.  
  
"Whacha doing?" Her message read.  
  
I slowly typed in the phrase, "Checking my email while I wait for my friend to get here so we can go to the movies."  
  
I laughed as I read her message. "Is your friend a girl?" I read to myself and noticed the 'kissing' smiley face there as well.  
  
"Yeah." I typed back.  
  
"You got mail." Sarah typed back quickly.  
  
I checked the message she sent me and nearly fell off laughing. I placed my fingers on the keyboard to type again.  
  
"Haha, very funny. I'm rofl (rolling on floor laughing)." I told typed.  
  
"You're most likely to do that, Ephram Brown. I know you've guilt tripped a girl into kissing you before." Sarah typed quickly again with the 'wink' and 'big grin' smilies there.  
  
A second later, another friend signed on. My eyes nearly bulged from my head as I saw who it was.  
  
"Oh crap! Janie is on!" I typed as fast as I could.  
  
"The Janie that likes you?" Sarah asked.  
  
"Yeah!" I said in all caps.  
  
"Get off then! I'll talk to you later! Call me when/if you get home!" She typed.  
  
"K, bye Sarah!" I typed and signed off just as an IM from Janie IMed me.  
  
I sighed and walked back to the kitchen as my mom and dad came in the door. I looked puzzled when I noticed Karin wasn't there. I furrowed my brow and thought of something to say.  
  
"Where's Karin?" I asked finally.  
  
"She's out in the car. The driver is paid already and knows where to drop you off at and when to pick you up. Here are your tickets and some snack money. Be good, see you when you get home." My mom said quickly and pushed me out of the door.  
  
"Wait, just like that I'm gone?" I asked quickly.  
  
"Yeah, you want good seats, right? Then you better go now because the movie starts in 20 minutes and it's a fifteen-minute drive to the cinema." My dad said.  
  
"Since when do you call it 'cinema'?" My mom asked.  
  
"I don't know, I guess I just picked it up at my convention since I was roomed with a British guy and we saw a film-er, a movie." My dad said, quickly covering for himself over his British speak he had picked up.  
  
"Bye, I guess." I said and left to go to the car, my parents to talking about my dad calling the theatre 'cinema.' I laughed to myself as I started toward the stairs.  
  
POV CHANGE-KARIN  
  
I sighed as I waited for Ephram to hurry up. I looked at the driver who had been staring at me for that last ten minutes. I scowled slightly and thought for a moment. An idea struck me when I thought of a line from the movie The Tuxedo. I smirked as I just figured to ad lib on it since I couldn't exactly remember all of it.  
  
"Excuse me, I don't drive for a living, but aren't rear view mirrors used for backing up, not staring at our passengers?" I asked, making myself as clear as I possibly could that he was seriously annoying me by staring at me consistently.  
  
"They are used for staring when the passenger is as pretty as you." He said and turned back to look at me directly.  
  
"Shouldn't you be paying more attention to the gages to make sure that the gas is right, the engine isn't overheating, and that there is enough antifreeze or whatever you're supposed to do besides stare at me?" I asked, sighing and looking out the window and saw Ephram finally coming down the stairs. "About time." I mumbled.  
  
I looked down at my black skirt that was just above my knees and my crimson camisole that hung loosely over my chest. I glanced at my pocket mirror to see if my make-up was still all right. I silently thanked myself for learning how to use make-up when I was 12. I sighed, as the time seemed to lapse as Ephram walked down the stars slowly from the sixth floor. Seconds seemed like minutes as I looked down at my blue-green watch.  
  
"Hey Ephram." I said warmly as he finally sat down next to me in the small car.  
  
"You look nice." He complimented.  
  
"Thanks, as do you." I replied.  
  
I put my seatbelt on as the driver started pulling out of the parking lot. I closed my eyes for a moment, thinking over a few things. I opened my eyes again when I felt eyes on me. Ephram was staring out of the window when I glanced at him. I glanced up at the driver who had stopped for a traffic light and was now staring at me again.  
  
I pulled out my pocket notebook and a pen slowly. I wrote something down and tore the paper out. I folded it and put it on Ephram's lap with the pen. I watched Ephram look at me for a moment then pick up the note and read it. I glanced up at the traffic light now moving behind us.  
  
POV CHANGE-EPHRAM  
  
I picked up the note Karin had passed to me and read it.  
  
'The driver keeps staring at me. It's a little uncomfortable, y'know.' She wrote.  
  
I took the pen and wrote, 'Want me to talk to him?'  
  
I passed the note to Karin with the pen. She read it and shook her head. She began to write something down. I picked the note and pen up to read what she had written. Just as my eyes glanced over the small paper, the annoying driver started to say something.  
  
"How cute. Passing notes. I used to do that in school." He said.  
  
"Oh yeah, I can tell. You must have been paying so much attention to the notes that you forgot to listen to the teacher. It shows real easily, you know." Karin said coldly.  
  
The driver was silent after Karin said that. She smiled triumphantly at her victorious insult. I laughed light and read what she had written. My eyes swept over the paper quickly. I laughed more to myself as I read her short note.  
  
"Nah, I got some tricks up my sleeve." I smiled as I wrote back to her.  
  
"Yeah, I noticed." I watched her smiled as she read it.  
  
I calculated the time until we arrived at the movie theatre. It was about eight more minutes. I started to tap my fingers on the window quickly. I looked over at Karin and grinned. She was biting her nails! I looked down at my stubby nails as well and chuckled.  
  
(A/N: I (the author) bite my nails as well, so that's what gave me the idea since every now and again, whilst thinking, I'll bite my nails. Plus, I was in the car when I wrote this and REALLY bored. So that's a trait of mine I gave my characters.)  
  
POV CHANGE-KARIN  
  
I slowly started chewing my nails again. My eyes trailed around the car to the driver, then to Ephram again. He was tapping his fingers against he window. A light, barely audible thumping noise as his fingers came in contact with the glass every millisecond. I looked up at the driver again and grinned happily at the annoyed look plastered on his face.  
  
'Yay! The driver's annoyed!' I thought, my grin turning into a smile.  
  
I ticked the rest of the remaining minute off of the ride until we drove in the parking lot. Before I could get out of the car, the driver had opened my door for me. I looked him up and down quickly. I looked at his nametag and had to restrain my laughter. A catlike grin found its way onto my face as I found something to say.  
  
"Thanks, 'Morton'." I said, emphasizing on his name and stifled a laugh.  
  
"It's in the job description." He said in a cold tone.  
  
"Riiiiight." I said letting a giggle out.  
  
I continued laughing as I walked over to Ephram. He looked strangely at me and I shook my head saying to forget it. He nodded and slowly took my hand. I grinned as we walked into the movie theatre. I curled my fingers around his hand slowly.  
  
I looked around slowly, and to my horror, I saw my friend Delilah walking around with a few of my friends. She waved at me. A few other friends followed in suit. I waved back weakly and grinned. A thought trailed my mind, but I soon brushed it off of the chart of things to do tonight.  
  
"Ephram, will you excuse me a moment? I see a few of my friends." I said and looked up slightly at Ephram.  
  
(A/N again: Uh.Karin is REALLY short.eh.like 4'9" or something. Don't ask she's Asian.)  
  
"Alright. Do you want a snack?" He asked.  
  
"Uhm, sure. Whatever you're having with a sprite, please." I said and let go of his hand to walk over to my friends.  
  
"I thought you didn't date anymore, Karin." Delilah said as I reached her.  
  
"Well, he's my employer's son, today's my birthday, and it turns out that his dad is Doc Brown, my Uncle Charles' partner in work." I said shrugging.  
  
Delilah smirked and said, "How old is he?"  
  
"Fourteen or fifteen. But he looks sixteen and acts your age, Del." I answered, overlooking Ephram as he stood at the counter.  
  
"Karin! That means he's three or four years younger than you!" One of my other friends, Rachel, yelled.  
  
"I grinned and said, "Well, he's a sweetheart, mind you. And a real easy person to talk to."  
  
"Well, good luck, Karin. What movie are y'all seeing?" Lucy, another friend asked.  
  
"Daredevil." I answered simply.  
  
"So are we. Want to get seats together?" Lucy asked again.  
  
"A movie with Ben Affleck without his shirt on with you? No thanks. You guys will be screaming all through the movie!" I said, a cheeky grin on my face. "Oh, girls, I gotta run. Ephram's done with the snacks. See yah Monday!" I called as I started walking towards the hallway where Ephram was standing.  
  
"Bye Karin!" My friends called back as I left their hearing range.  
  
"Bye!" I yelled back anyway.  
  
POV CHANGE-EPHRAM  
  
I watched as Karin left her friends and came towards me. She smiled a look of mirth in her eyes. I was puzzled until her look disappeared suddenly. I grinned as she laced her fingers around mine. We began walking to the door where the movie was playing as she stopped. I looked at her curiously.  
  
I wicked grin crossed her face slowly. I furrowed my brow at her. Possibilities crossed my head as I thought of what she could be thinking. Nothing fit what could be going through her mind right now as I thought of something to say. She beat me to the punch on talking as she opened her mouth to speak her thoughts.  
  
"Do you want to blow the movie and go somewhere real cool?" She asked, almost jumping up and down.  
  
"Where?" I asked.  
  
"If you say yes, then it'll be a surprise until we get there." She said, the mirth appearing in her eyes again.  
  
"Sure, I guess. But how will we get to this 'surprise place'?" I asked.  
  
"Hold on. Delilah!" Karin yelled loudly over the crowd.  
  
A redheaded girl turned around quickly, her hair spinning as she did so. A grin crossed her face as she came slowly towards us. A few other girls, about three, were following her. I wondered what types of ideas were running through Karin's mind now. Before I knew it, her friend Delilah was standing in front of us.  
  
"Whacha need, Karin?" She asked.  
  
"Del, Ephram and I wanna blow this joint and go to the 'other' social gathering tonight downtown. You know the one that I'm talking about?" Karin asked, trying her hardest to mask the surprise.  
  
"Oh, yeah. 'That' one. Yeah, I'll take you if you need a ride. The girls and I were having second thoughts as we were getting our snacks. I only have the little car, so we're going to have to squish in the back seat." Delilah said.  
  
"Alrighty. No problem." Karin said, her cheeky grin now turning into a wicked one again.  
  
"Where-where are we going?" I asked, still completely lost.  
  
"I told you: it's a surprise!" Karin said playfully. 


	8. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Still, I don't own WB, and if I did own that TV network, I would own Everwood, the show that is. But anyhoo, sorry for the long delay on the updating. My parents went to Hawaii Saturday morning without me and I have a sitter at my house for my little sis. But thanks for your patience, and your reward is: a new chapter!! Don't you feel lucky?  
  
Chapter 7  
  
POV-EPHRAM  
  
I sighed as I looked out the window. I looked at the girl next to me that was NOT Karin. Karin had said that she knew a short cut to our surprise destination and said she'd drive. I tried to find out where we were going, but no one would tell me. I sighed again and started tapping my fingers against the window.  
  
"Whoa, Karin. This is the industrial area here. No one lives out here." The girl next to me said.  
  
"Chill, Rachel. I know exactly what I'm doing, and exactly where I'm going." Karin said, her lips set in a thin line.  
  
"That's what 'they' said before 'it' happened, Karin." Another girl said.  
  
"Shut up about that, Cherri!" Karin yelled to the girl on the opposite side of the car from me.  
  
"What happened?" I asked.  
  
Karin sighed as Cherri said, "A few months ago, a few girls, about five were going through this area and never came back-well, one did."  
  
"Who was that?" I asked.  
  
"Kar-."  
  
"The names are not important, Cherri. If you are going to tell the story, tell what happened actually!" Karin snapped.  
  
Cherri sighed and said, "Well, they were just by that water tower up there when their car broke down. The girl in the driver's seat got out to check the works under the hood. Another girl left to use her cell phone to call the tow truck. She didn't come back. Another girl left the car to find her. She didn't come back either."  
  
"How many girls did I say?" Cherri paused to ask.  
  
"Three, including Kar-the girl looking under the hood." Rachel answered.  
  
I looked up at Karin and saw her lips still set in a thin line. I furrowed my brow as Cherri corrected herself, almost saying the name of the girl. Every time someone got close to almost saying the name, I thought of Karin. I tried to shrug it off, but found no avail and looked at the floor.  
  
"Alright, uhm..oh yeah. The two girls remaining in the car were getting nervous and decided to look for them. So they slipped out of the car and went in the direction the other girls had gone in. They didn't come back either. The, uh-first girl waited, and when no one came back, she went to try to find the other girls." Here, Cherri paused to take a breath. Her blonde hair fell from behind her ears and she also stopped to put it up in a ponytail.  
  
"But anyhoo, when the girl walked to the area that the other girls had been at, she screamed. There, she saw her friend's bodies on the ground-dead. She looked around and heard a twig crack in front of her. She turned and ran towards the car. She jumped in and slammed her door. She felt for the keys in the ignition and cranked it up hurriedly. At first, the engine wouldn't start, so she kept trying and eventually, right when the attacker of her friends was at the car door and reaching to open her door, it cranked up and she drove off in fear." Cherri said.  
  
I looked at the girl beside me as she shivered in slight fear. I looked up at Karin, and a small amount of fear was in her eyes as well. Delilah kept glancing around hurriedly, as if searching for something. The girl in the middle was in a daze as she envisioned it all happening, supposedly, and the fourth girl in the back seat was fidgeting with something in her purse, acting as though she hadn't heard the story. I looked up at Karin again sadly.  
  
'Ordinary stories like this wouldn't scare her, I bet. I wonder why she looks scared at something like this.' I thought to myself.  
  
I shivered as we passed the water tower. I unconsciously looked to the left, out of my window, and had an overwhelming feeling of sadness for those girls that had so tenderly died in this area. Little did I know that I was looking directly at the same spot they had been before their bodies had been removed. I shuddered at the whole thought of this. It was an odd thought, but maybe it was Karin that was the girl who lived through this since she seemed so touchy on the whole matter.  
  
POV CHANGE-KARIN  
  
I mumbled to myself as she finally drove out of the industrial area. I slowed the car down as I turned on Main Street and then took a left into the residential area. Surprisingly, a smile crossed my lips as I saw the house at the end of the block with the lights on and people in the yard. I drove slower down the lane as a tried to see if anyone was in the road. I could feel Delilah boring a hole into my skull with her eyes as I kept driving slower until we were just coasting down the road. I came to a halt in front of the house that was my destination and took the keys from the ignition then handed them to Delilah with an ever-growing smirk on my face.  
  
"A party? The secret destination is a party?" I heard Ephram ask.  
  
"Yup." I said happily.  
  
Ephram looked up at me questioningly. I smiled back at him reassuringly and jumped out of Delilah's car. Rachel, Lucy, Cherri, and Delilah all followed suit. I watched Ephram as he hesitated a moment then jumped out with a smile on his face. He walked up to me and we walked into my friend's house together. Inside was where the real party was happily carrying on.  
  
"Ephram, if anyone offers you a drink, don't take it. If you get thirsty, go to the punch bowl and get the water only." I cautioned my date.  
  
"Why?" He questioned.  
  
"The punch is most probably spiked." I said, lowering my voice.  
  
Ephram nodded in acknowledgement slowly and immediately took heed of my advice when some punch was offered to him.  
  
"Oh, Ephram, can you drive?" I asked suddenly as I slowly sipped my cup of punch.  
  
"A little bit." He said slowly.  
  
"Okay, then I won't drink too much punch tonight then." I said and walked around to the living room to find the host.  
  
"Hey Julie!" I called to my friend.  
  
"Hey, Karin, long time no see! I thought you weren't coming!" She said to me and gave me a friendly embrace.  
  
"Well, I decided to ditch the movies and get a ride with Del and the crew. And, I brought a friend along with me." I said and motioned to Ephram.  
  
"Hi, I'm Julie, one of Karin's friends. You are-?" "Ephram." He said.  
  
Julie shook hands with Ephram heartily and smiled. She then bent towards me and whispered something in my ear.  
  
"Two things, Karin. One, he's a nice looking guy, where'd you pick him up? And two, watch out because John is here." She whispered.  
  
My face paled as I heard her say the name John and asked, "John? My John?"  
  
Julie nodded sadly, but then acted as if nothing was wrong again. She repeated her first question and I answered it by saying that he was my employer's son and his father was my uncle's co-worker. I also added the fact that since today was my birthday that he had decided to take me to the movies but we ditched it and came here.  
  
"Oh, your employer's son." Julie said meticulously. She leaned in by my ear again and whispered, "Do you like him?"  
  
My face turned a deep shade of red as I thought of my answer. I cleared my throat and said, "He's a cool guy."  
  
"That isn't what I meant, Karin, and you know it." Julie whispered.  
  
I grinned and said, "What us tonight and you'll find out, Julie, my friend."  
  
Then I turned and laced my fingers around Ephram's, still holding my spiked punch. I grinned as I felt Julie smiling at me slightly. I turned and grinned back at her with a wink that said, 'How do you like me now?' She laughed and waved me off with her hands. Ephram and I slipped undetected onto the balcony, which was conveniently empty right now.  
  
As I looked over the beach below us, I said, "This is why I love Julie's house. It's right over the lake. It's a perfect view of everything."  
  
POV CHANGE-EPHRAM  
  
I grinned as I heard Karin talking to her friends around us. I didn't know how social she could be around other people. As I watched her, I saw her face pale suddenly as she looked in a far corner of the room. "What?" I asked her.  
  
"Nothing." She said as she quickly laced her fingers around mine and pulled me out to the balcony with a few words back to her friend Julie.  
  
I was hardly listening when I heard Karin talking about something. I heard it was about the lake beneath us, but I didn't know exactly what she said. I sighed as I zoned out to my surroundings slowly. I wondered what had made Karin act as she did. She normally didn't just run away from a room full of people from what I knew of her.  
  
"Ephram!" I suddenly heard Karin yelling to me.  
  
"Yes?" I jumped slightly upon her yelling.  
  
"What do you think?" She asked, gesturing her arm over the lake.  
  
"Oh, uh."  
  
"You weren't listening, were you?" She said, a cheeky grin on her face.  
  
Karin started laughing and said between giggles, "I asked what you thought of the landscape here. The lakes, the tree, everything."  
  
"Oh, I like them." I said lightly and noticed a small amount of moonlight shining down on her face, making her look light she was glowing.  
  
"What?" She asked me as she soon found that I was staring at her.  
  
"Nothing. It's just how the moon is giving its light off, it's shining on you so it looks like you're glowing." I told her.  
  
Karin's face turned a light shade of carnation pink as I said that. A smile became apparent on Karin's lips as a silence lingered between us. I didn't realize that I was slowly inching my way closer to her. When we were just about to kiss, some other people came out, yelling about something. I sighed and lay my head back on my shoulders. I looked at Karin and noticed that the light from the moon wasn't shining on her, yet it was still in its previous place when it was.  
  
"Come on, let's go inside." She said slyly.  
  
I followed her inside to a corner of the room that was preoccupied by someone quite familiar, but I couldn't remember who it was. Karin just waltzed up to him and whispered something to him. I felt a pang of jealousy slightly as Karin kept whispering things to him. The boy's face looked red from either embarrassment or anger, which of the two, I couldn't tell. He stood up from the wall and pulled me by my shirt collar out to the front lawn.  
  
"John, no!" I heard Karin yell as she did her best to run in her high- heeled shoes.  
  
"I told you before, Karin, what would happen if I saw you two hanging out again." He yelled back to her.  
  
"You cannot control my life as you control Todd's, John. Now stop it before-"  
  
"Before you call the cops? If you do that, this entire party will be ruined. It'll be your fault, too, Karin. So don't you think of it."  
  
Karin glared at him as the guy that had me by my shirt was staring back at her. He failed to notice that she was reaching into her skirt pocket for her cell phone, or did he? His hand sprung out and grabbed her wrist suddenly.  
  
"I told you to not even think of that, Karin." He told her as he wrenched her hand from her pocket.  
  
Now, he turned his attention towards me. His face was quite disheveled from the raging anger boiling his blood. He suddenly pulled his fist back at me. I shut my eyes, preparing for the worst. 


	9. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: Still, I don't own WB, and if I did own that TV network, I would own Everwood, the show that is. Well.I hope this chapter will be as good as my last one, according to the reviews, but anyhoo.ehm.well, please enjoy!! Reviews are still appreciated and if you anonymous reviewers would like to be on my mailing list so you don't have to trouble yourself that much finding it, email me at elves_and_black_hawks@yahoo.com. But thanks for your patience, and your reward is: a new chapter!! Don't you feel lucky? Oh, and sorry if this chapter sounds really formal, much more so than my usual chapters here because I've been writing in formal English for the past couple of stories on my computer.hehe.anyhoo.  
  
Chapter 8  
  
POV-EPHRAM (still, lol)  
  
My eyes were squinted shut when I felt a hard smack square in my jaw. I stumbled backwards from the impact and felt my jaw tenderly. I felt blood leaking into my mouth from my now busted lip.  
  
"John, stop it!" I heard Karin yell.  
  
"You stay out of this, Karin!" He yelled back to her.  
  
I attempted to go back to my feet, but was pulled back up and another felt another blow on my face. Karin screamed again at her brother, I figured out, and pulled at him.  
  
"Karin!" I heard someone call as they helped her from the ground.  
  
I felt someone pulling me from the steel grip of Karin's brother and finally saw the red and blue lights. Someone had called the cops on the party! I felt relieved when I saw that I was out of harm's way, finally. I looked and saw Karin's friend, Rachel, pulling Karin in a different direction from me. I stood up and ran in her way.  
  
"Ephram, I'm sorry. I didn't know my brother would be here." Karin apologized.  
  
"It's all right. You're not omniscient, right?" I teased.  
  
She shook her head and said, "Come on, let's go home after you wipe that blood from your mouth." She grinned as she handed me a tissue from her purse.  
  
I nodded and wiped the excessive amount of blood from my face. I hadn't realized that I had bled so much. I winced slightly as I felt Karin dabbing at the source of the blood with a wet cloth.  
  
"Let's go before the cops get to us." Delilah called to us and cranked up her car.  
  
"Alright, hold on. Pull your car over here. And Del, you're gonna have to pull out of here quickly since they're going pretty fast and getting over here quicker than you can drive. Come on Ephram." Karin said and pulled me into Delilah's car in the back seat.  
  
"Where are the other girls?" I asked.  
  
"They got rides with other people. It's a tactic for these parties. If it gets broken up, the rides go with different people, and since I'm the only one that knows where Karin lives, or rather where to drop her off at, she's still riding with me. And also, you're her date, so it'd be pretty bad for her to abandon her date at a party to fend for himself." Delilah said.  
  
"Oh, like you've never done that, Del!" Karin teased her friend.  
  
I grinned as I watched a cop yell after us, telling us not to leave, but Delilah just sped up and drove off without her headlights on. I figured she knew the area well enough to drive since she never missed a beat. We drove for a few minutes until we reached the industrial area again. Karin yawned and slowly laid her head down on my shoulder. I heard her giggle slightly as she did that. We drove the rest of the way in silence, much to my surprise. The only noise was the chug of the engine and an occasional moan from a foghorn in the harbor around us.  
  
POV CHANGE-KARIN  
  
I sighed as we pulled back into the movies and saw a crowd dispersing from the theatre. I figured that it was the Daredevil crowd since it had been an hour and a half since we had left, and the movie was about that long. I sat up and stretched a bit since I had hardly moved at all.  
  
"Thanks for the ride Del. I owe you one." I said to Delilah as I peeked in her window.  
  
"Just send me to the guys, and we'll call it even." Delilah said with a smirk.  
  
"Right. See you on Monday, Del, and give me a buzz tomorrow at you know where about the girls getting back to dorms safely." I said, a serious look on my face.  
  
Delilah nodded and pulled out of the parking lot and left Ephram and I to wait for 'Morton', the driver. I grinned as I thought of all the teasing I would do to him on campus, seeing that I knew him from my school, most surprisingly. I finally remembered that. I felt better after I figured out where I knew the driver from. I grinned as I saw him pulling in the parking lot.  
  
Ephram and I both slipped into the back of the car, sitting a bit closer than we had been before when we were driving to the theatre. I smirk was set upon my face as I laced my fingers around Ephram's slowly. My smirked turned to a look of shock when the driver asked a question.  
  
"What happened? It looks like you got into a fight." The driver didn't know how right he was.  
  
"Ehm.He slipped and fell in the theatre." I lied for our own sake.  
  
The driver nodded skeptically and continued driving back to Ephram's apartment complex. I grinned slightly as I laid my head on Ephram's shoulder again. I closed my eyes and fell into the world between sleep and wake. The next thing I knew, we were pulling into the parking lot to Ephram's condominium complex. When the car stopped, Ephram opened the door and helped my stiff form out of the car.  
  
"You want to come up for a cup of coffee?" Ephram asked me.  
  
"Sure." I said as I looked at my watch.  
  
We slowly went up the stairs to his apartment, talking about small things like what we thought about the party, besides the fact that he was beaten up by my younger brother.  
  
"Yeah, he packs some power in those punches." Ephram said.  
  
"Uh.yeah." I said slowly as we reached the door.  
  
"Well?" I heard his parent's voices ask as we walked into the living room.  
  
"Well what?" Ephram asked.  
  
"Did you like the movie?" His mom asked.  
  
"Yeah, it was all right." Ephram said.  
  
"What about you Karin?" His mom asked me.  
  
"I liked it, although there could've been less fighting scenes in it." I said, touching my cheek softly and shooting a glance at Ephram.  
  
"Ephram, what happened to your face? It looks like you were in the movie fights as well." His dad said.  
  
"Oh, I just tripped, that's all. Karin and I wanted to get some coffee. Is there any Irish Crème left?" Ephram said, going along with the lie I had planted earlier.  
  
"Yeah. It's in the coffee pot." His mom said after inspecting his cut lip.  
  
A grin set upon my face as I walked with Ephram into the kitchen.  
  
POV CHANGE-DOC BROWN  
  
"I don't believe he fell, what about you, Julia?" I said to my wife.  
  
"Well, we have no proof, right? So what's the use of trying to find out what we can't?" She said and kissed my cheek.  
  
"I guess you're right." I said.  
  
POV CHANGE-EPHRAM  
  
"Pretty smooth, Ephram." Karin said to me with a grin.  
  
"What?" I asked as I pulled two coffee mugs out of the cupboard and poured some coffee into them.  
  
"Back in there with your parents and the party." She replied and sat down at the bar.  
  
"Oh, well, I've gotten pretty good into the habit of lying to them occasionally. So it's pretty easy." I said and set the cup in front of Karin with the cream and sugar.  
  
"Ahh.I was pretty good at it too before my parents were killed. Then I discovered I couldn't lie to my uncle and I kind of lost the talent, but it comes in handy when I need it." Karin said, a grin on her face.  
  
"Yeah, it's not easy to hide stuff from Charles. I've tried, and he found out easily." I said, my face turned a light shade of pink, but soon subsided.  
  
Karin grinned as she sipped her coffee with a look of experience in drinking coffee. I grinned and sipped my coffee as well. The sweet taste of the Irish Crème coffee seared through my insides as it went through me.  
  
(A/N: that's one of my formal English perspectives, sorry..I'm really mean sometimes with my way of writing, so excuse any more possible formal English, I use that the most. :-\)  
  
POV CHANGE-KARIN  
  
I don't know how long we were sitting there drinking coffee until my cell phone ran. I reached in my purse and pulled my phone out.  
  
"Hello?" I said into it.  
  
"Hey, Karin." I heard a familiar voice say.  
  
"Oh, hi Todd. Has John gotten home yet?" I asked; not sounding at all too thrilled.  
  
"No, I was just calling you about that." Todd said.  
  
"Oh. Well, he was at a party earlier." I said, but trailed off.  
  
"Hold on, Karin, I have a beep on the other line." Todd said and switched lines.  
  
"Is anything wrong, Karin?" Ephram asked.  
  
"I don't know." I said, awaiting Todd to come back and tell me some news.  
  
"Karin?" I heard Todd's worried voice saying.  
  
"What's wrong?" I said quickly.  
  
"You need to get home right now. Todd's in the hospital and I don't want to be alone anymore." Todd said quickly.  
  
When I didn't say anything, Ephram asked me, "Karin, is everything all right?"  
  
"I-I have to go, Ephram." I said, an emotionless gaze on my face.  
  
"Karin, our uncle just called and said-"  
  
"John's in the hospital, I know. Todd just phoned me about it." I said, a tear crawling down my cheek slowly.  
  
"Ephram, you come with us. I'm going to drive here there." Doc Brown said.  
  
POV CHANGE-EPHRAM  
  
I looked at Karin as a tear fell off her cheek.  
  
"Let's go. Come on, Ephram." My dad said to me and pulled me out of the door.  
  
I looked at Karin and saw her wiping at her eyes gently. I walked up to her and carefully slipped my arm around her shoulders. She slowly put her head on my shoulder and we walked down the stairs toward my dad's car. The door was already open for us to sit in the back. Karin slid into the back and I followed suit. She sniffled a moment, then stopped crying.  
  
"Doc Brown, we need to stop by my house because Todd is there by himself. You know where it is, right?" Karin said.  
  
"Yes, I do, now that I think of it." My dad said and drove off in the direction of Karin's house.  
  
Karin softly put her head on my shoulder again as we drove down Main Street quickly. I took her hand up in mind and squeezed it reassuringly. She hiccuped slightly as she took deep breaths to calm herself down. I suddenly felt the urge to kiss her then, to try to make things better. I looked down at her. Her eyes were closed, but they opened and she looked up at me.  
  
I mouthed the words, 'I'm sorry' to her slowly. She shook her head, as if saying 'don't be'. I nodded and squeezed her hand again. I swallowed hard as we turned to what I guess was her house. A small child was standing outside of it. He had dark red hair, and very light skin. My dad stopped in front of the trailer and rolled down his window.  
  
"Todd! Come on!" Karin yelled through the window in the front.  
  
Todd opened the door to the backseat and slid in. He put a comforting hand on his sister's shoulder. She turned to him and showed a face of pain to him, or what I thought it was. He nodded and sat against the car door. We rode the rest of the way in silence.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Okay, sorry people for the long lag on update, but my parents just got back from Hawaii today..and I got some souvenirs! Joy...but anyhoo.ehm...oh yeah, dum dun dum! What's gonna happen to John? What happened to him? You'll find out in the next chapter when I write it..muhahahaha!! 


	10. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: Still, I don't own WB, and if I did own that TV network, I would own Everwood, the show that is. If you anonymous reviewers would like to be on my mailing list so you don't have to trouble yourself that much finding the link to the story, blah, blah, blah, email me at elves_and_black_hawks@yahoo.com. I am going to change the mailing list to my hotmail address (freebluewings@hotmail.com) so just to let you all know that for those of you who are on my mailing list. And feel free to email me on some things you would like to read happening. But a thanks for your patience, and your reward is: a new chapter!! Don't you feel lucky? Oh, and please excuse the formality of the writing in this chapter. My brain is stuck in formal mode somehow or other.  
  
Chapter 9  
  
POV-KARIN  
  
I lay on one of the benches outside of the hospital to let everything sink in. I sighed as a full amount of reminisces came over me.  
  
~~~~ MEMORY ~~~~  
  
Ephram and I jumped out of his father's car with Todd and Doc Brown following in suit. I ran towards the doors and into the hospital. Doc Brown ran up behind me quickly as well.  
  
"We need clearance to see John Dunlapp in ICU." He said quickly.  
  
I gasped as he mentioned the Intensive Care Unit. Ephram and his dad took hold of me and dragged me towards an elevator in the back of the room. We passed people in casts, splints, wheelchairs-you name it, we saw it there. I looked in a corner of the room and saw one of my friends. I recognized her as Lucy.  
  
"Lucy!" I called to her.  
  
She looked up and ran over to me. A look of panic and worry was on her face.  
  
"Did you hear about Delilah?" She asked me.  
  
"No, I'm hear about my brother." I said, wiping a stray tear from my cheek.  
  
"She was involved in the crash too." Lucy said sadly.  
  
"W-What?" I stammered. "Walk with me. Please explain everything." I said. I then noticed the scratches and her right arm hanging slightly limp at her side.  
  
"Well, I was in the car with John and a few of his friends. John was sitting in the back seat at the opposite side from me. One of his friends was, obviously, drunk and getting a little rough. John tried to stop him, but the driver, one of John's friends, was too distracted and hit Del's car which was just coming back through the industrial area. John was standing up in the car trying to get his friend away from me when we hit and he was thrown from the car." Lucy explained as we walked off of the elevator on the ICU floor.  
  
"Quite a story." Doc Brown said.  
  
"Doc Brown, we didn't go to the movies tonight, we went to the party until it was busted." I confessed slowly.  
  
"I figured that. Then how'd Ephram get this cut on his lip?" He asked me.  
  
"John is very protective of me, and saw me with Ephram and later on pulled him out in a fight in the street and busted his lip. I feel like this is all my fault, Andy. If I hadn't gone to the party, then Ephram and I would have been just fine at the theatre, and the party wouldn't have been broken up and all this wouldn't have happened." I said, mentally kicking myself for this.  
  
"It's not your fault, Karin. It probably would have happened anyway." Doc Brown said to me, trying to calm me down.  
  
"I heard from one of the girls that one of the neighbors called because they smelled something like drugs there. I don't know, but they were there awfully fast from when I called." Lucy said, gently touching her arm.  
  
"Lucy, what happened to your arm?" I asked her as I saw a glimpse of her arm  
  
"It was broken in the accident, I haven't been treated for it yet." Lucy said.  
  
"Oh." I said.  
  
~~~~ END MEMORY ~~~~  
  
I sighed as the vivid memory ended. I stood up and walked over to the snack machine to get a soda and some candy to keep me awake.  
  
POV CHANGE-EPHRAM  
  
I sat in the back of my dad's car in thought. My dad had gone into either the ER or the OR to help the doctors with John. A thought crossed my mind of the look of pain on Karin's face when she saw her brother and her friend.  
  
~~~~ MEMORY ~~~~  
  
My dad, Karin and I slipped into an ER room quickly. Karin's friend, Lucy, had been pulled into an operating room after a doctor saw her arm. It turned out that she would need surgery to get the bones back in place in her wrist. She looked in a lot of pain when we saw her, but I knew that she should have been in much more pain that that of what she showed to us.  
  
We looked around in the small room and saw doctors in the far corner of it. I looked at Karin and saw a face of pain cross her expression. She brought her hands to her face as she was looking in a different corner than I was. I looked where she was and saw a familiar face. It was Delilah. A doctor stood next to her cot with his hand around her wrist. Karin ran over to Delilah's cot quickly and asked the doctor too many questions to comprehend.  
  
"I'm sorry. Are you next of kin to her?" The doctor asked.  
  
"Not really. She was orphaned when she was 16, and I've known her all of her life. She was an only child, and didn't have any close relatives. I'm almost like her sister." Karin said, trying to hold back tears as the realization swept over her.  
  
(A/N: Just want to make sure that, as mean as it sounds, Delilah is dead..I sorry I had to do that, but you might see why I did later.)  
  
She sighed quietly, holding back a drought of tears inside of her. I watched as her shoulders began to shake from withheld sobs. Her little brother walked up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder, hoping to try and calm her down. They both sighed as Karin's attention was brought to the other end of the room where the doctors were all standing.  
  
"Karin?" I asked her as I walked behind her.  
  
"Oh my God." She said and strode up to the other cot.  
  
"Excuse me, that's my brother! Is he all right?" I heard her ask amidst the mild clamor of the two doctors talking.  
  
"Yes, ma'am, he is. He just suffered minor head trauma, a broken leg, and a broken arm. Other than that, a few bumps and bruises, but he's fine, miss-?"  
  
"Dunlapp, Karin Dunlapp." She explained.  
  
I felt like I was being introduced to James Bond then when she said her name, but I looked over the shoulders of the doctors and sighed.  
  
"Do you know when he will be dismissed from the hospital?" Karin asked.  
  
"In a good few weeks, Miss Dunlapp. Right now, he is slipping in and out of a coma, but it's nothing really major." The doctor said.  
  
"All right." Karin said and left the room slowly.  
  
I followed her along with Todd. My dad stayed in the ER to help them and bring occasional updates on John's condition. I looked at Karin and saw a tear streak down her tan skin. She sighed and put a brave look on her face and swallowed.  
  
"I'm gonna go think this over, okay?" She told me and walked off in the direction of the elevators.  
  
I nodded and looked down at Todd. He sighed and shook his head. I guessed he was about eight or nine, but was quite tall for his age, he was almost as tall as Karin. I looked around me and idly scratched the back of my head. I swallowed again and finally felt that my throat was parched.  
  
"Todd, do you want to go get a drink from downstairs?" I asked him, not wanting to leave someone his age alone in a hospital.  
  
He nodded and started walking towards the stairs.  
  
"The stairs are better for you." He said simply and jogged down them.  
  
I followed in suit and went down the six flights of stairs. We eventually hit the bottom in the 'cafeteria' if you want to call it that, and then I pulled my wallet out to pay for the drinks.  
  
"What do you want?" I asked him.  
  
"A bottled water is fine. I don't like sodas. They eat away at your stomach lining." He said.  
  
"You're a real smart kid, Todd." I told him as I slipped a dollar bill into the drink machine and pressed the water button.  
  
"I guess. Karin said I'm special. John said I'm a genius, but he was being sarcastic." He said with a grin.  
  
"Well, whatever you are, you're probably smarter than me." I told him as I decided not to drink a soda tonight.  
  
"Do you like her?" Todd asked me suddenly after about five minutes.  
  
"What?" I asked quickly, surprised at his question.  
  
"Do you like my sister?" Todd asked again.  
  
~~~~ END MEMORY ~~~~  
  
I sighed as I heard a knock on my window. I looked up and saw Karin standing there with two sodas and some candy. I sat up and slipped over to the other side of the car as Karin opened the door and sat down beside me. She swallowed and quickly placed a kiss on my lips then turned a crimson color in her cheeks as she pulled away. She grinned and handed me a candy bar.  
  
"Sorry." She mumbled.  
  
I was still flustered, trying to think of something to say, something to do, but I couldn't. I slowly took the candy bar from her and smirked.  
  
"Where's Todd?" She asked me.  
  
"He's asleep in the back-way back." I said, looking behind the seat at Karin's younger brother. His face was buried in his arms slightly.  
  
Karin nodded looked behind the seat as well. When she looked back from the trunk, she opened her soda daintily and sipped it slowly. I looked at my half full bottle of water from earlier and took a chug from my water.  
  
POV CHANGE-KARIN  
  
"Ephram, can I ask you something?" I asked the younger guy sitting next to me. His arm was around my waist whilst I had my head on his shoulder.  
  
"Sure." He responded.  
  
"What do you consider us as? Friends with a very close relationship, or-?" I trailed off.  
  
Ephram shifted positions slightly then said, "I don't know. What about you?"  
  
"I don't know either.  
  
A new voice entered the conversation saying, "I think you guys are in love."  
  
I looked behind me and saw my younger brother sitting up behind us with an ever growing smirk on his face. My jaw dropped as I searched for words.  
  
"How long-how long have you been there?!" I hissed.  
  
"Ever since you got here, Karin." He said, his smirk looking like the Grinch's.  
  
My jaw dropped as memories came to me of earlier. My face turned red again as I smacked my youngest brother on the back of his head.  
  
"You little-!"  
  
"Genius?" He cut in.  
  
"Not the word I was looking for." I said. "Get out." I added as Todd started to crawl over the seat and out of the car.  
  
"Thanks!" He said as he grabbed a candy bar.  
  
I rolled my eyes as I resumed my previous position before we were interrupted by my brother. I sighed as I closed my eyes slowly. Ephram's arm was still around my waist. I scooted a bit closer to him with a sly grin on my face. Amidst everything that had happened today, I still found a happy ending. Delilah was in a better place and wouldn't have to worry about all of this, John was going to get better considering he was a fighter; Ephram knew that first hand, and Lucy was in the OR having her arm fixed. I was at ease now.  
  
"Karin, my turn to ask you something." Ephram said quietly.  
  
"Sure." I said gently, almost lost in the moment.  
  
"In that story earlier, was that girl supposed to be you?" Ephram asked slowly, as if dreading the answer to his question.  
  
I sighed then said, "Yes, that was me. It was four months ago. I lost most of my friends. Delilah didn't come that night, and I thank God that she didn't, and the rest of the girls heard the story from me after a few months-about two weeks ago I told them."  
  
"Oh." Ephram said. I felt him wince when I said it was me.  
  
I sighed as I sat up to face Ephram. I cleared my throat as I unconsciously pushed my face closer to Ephram's slowly. Before I knew it, our lips were almost touching. I closed my eyes and not a moment later, our lips met.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
HAHA!! Happy? I finally put a kiss in there for ya! Two in fact! Well, sorry all for the long wait. I had school work, and as I mentioned last chapter, my parents just got back from Hawaii last Monday, so we're pretty busy getting the house clean and all for them, then my mom just started working more at the church, blah blah blah. But anyhoo...atleast I finished the chapter! Yay!! Well, I'm gonna try to get the next update in soon, but don't expect it too soon because my grades aren't as perfect as my mom wants them to be, so I might put this on hold for a while, mind you, so *shrugs* . I hope you enjoyed the suspense of this chapter!! Bye all! 


	11. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: Nope, still not a big TV producer in charge of EVERY WB television show on the air, so nope, I don't own Everwood. I only own Karin, Todd, John, Delilah, Lucy, Rachel, and the other people I thought up in the previous chapters, which some may come back, I don't now, but some may not.  
  
Author's note: This is going to be a short chapter, and tomorrow, I will be updating again with chapter 11. I was on a writing spree last night and had some ideas for it, so there is an effective story line on this, and re- read the summary of this story since I redid it. Hope you enjoy this! It's all a dream sequence, mind you, although you might have figured that out anyway.  
  
Chapter 10  
  
POV-KARIN  
  
I looked around me and saw ambulances and a police car. People walked by me, or literally right through me. I looked around and saw a familiar shadowy figure fleeing from the scene. I felt a sharp pain in my wrist and look down at where the pain was coming from. My wrist was cut deeply, but I didn't care...too much. I sighed and tore part of my shirt sleeve off and applied a tourniquet about my wrist to stop the bleeding. I watched as it turned a crimson color from the blood but ignored it. I looked up and saw the figure running away still.  
  
I ran after the shadowy figure, know what it was. I followed it down an alley way for a few blocks passing up graffiti on walls signifying gang member signs and old posters for movies when this was a safe neighborhood. I watched from behind as the figure sped into a doorway quickly, knowing I was on its heels. As I turned the bend in to the building, I stopped suddenly. My jaw dropped slightly as I tried to remember where I was. The building looked strangely familiar to me, like I had been there before. I tried to remember, but I couldn't. It felt like water in a cup about to overflow, but waiting for the last drop to come and break the surface. I swallowed hard as I remembered where I was finally.  
  
"The Cathedral." I whispered to myself. My voice reverberated in the church, sounding like a gigantic crash, but I knew no one else would hear me.  
  
I looked around and looked through the remains of the old Catholic church. A stained glass window lay broken on the floor in front of me. I stooped down and looked at the remains of the picture of Mary holding baby Jesus in her arms. I wanted to pick up the glass and tried, but I couldn't. My hand just swept threw it like I was grabbing at air. I sighed loudly and heard it echo throughout the church.  
  
I stiffened suddenly when I heard two voices, both way too familiar for me. I stood up and walked towards a door slowly. I peeked around the frame and froze when I saw two people. My jaw nearly touched the floor as I saw who they were. It was Ephram and..me.  
  
Suddenly, I remembered the shadowy figure was still here somewhere. The knowledge of the thought of what would happen next here skittered across my mind like a leaf being blown around in the wind. I shuddered at the importance of the next few moments in the church. I knew what would happen and loathed the fact that I did. I wished that I didn't, but I knew I couldn't help it either with me being who I was exactly. I sighed as I saw the figure walking quietly behind Ephram and the other me. I watched the slow movements of this new dream and knew what would happen next. That drop of water had fallen and broken the top film and all of the knowledge of this world had broken loose into my brain. I wished I wasn't here to see this all happening.  
  
I had to change this, but how?  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Okay. Sorry, everyone, this is so freaking short, but it holds a lot of information in it. It goes along with my story line for it. Yes, I have a story line and I'm not just making things up. But please, bear with me on this cliffhanger until tomorrow when I update again hopefully. But anyhoo..I had better get working, eh? Please, r/r. I ttyl! 


	12. Author's Apologies to All II

Alrighty peoples. I'm sorry I haven't updated. But I have a life that is quite irritating right now and kind of hard considering school is coming to an end soon, but much later than anyone else for me right now. But I do have a story/plot line for this, so...I hope to update before next weekend. I have lost my notebook that has my story in it, so I'm sorry. But I will find it and finish writing it. But until then, it's on lag. And just to let you all know, I might put the internet on a hold so I can bring up my grades to atleast high B's. Please, be patient with me. Farewell, my readers. Until next time!  
  
All for one, and one for all!  
  
~Aramis~ 


	13. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: Alrighty, who even reads these notes? I do sometimes to know a few things about the stories, but anyway. I do NOT own the WB network, if I did, you'd be seeing these shows on the TV instead of reading them here, don't ya think? But anyhoo...on with the story!  
  
Author's note: Sorry for the long wait for the update and please forgive me for not updating when I said I would. I blame my school work for it..But anyway...at least this is an update, eh?  
  
Chapter 11  
  
(Please read the author's note at the bottom of the story when you are finished with the chapter)  
  
POV-EPHRAM  
  
"Karin, wake up," I whispered to her.  
  
She stirred slightly as I called her name softly. I grinned and lightly shook her. I called her name again softly. Karin's eyes fluttered open slowly. I looked down at her ad grinned as I said, "Good morning."  
  
She grinned back and mumbled, "Good morning."  
  
"You hungry?" I asked her.  
  
"Not really," she replied, sitting up.  
  
It had been two weeks since the accident with John and Delilah. Karin and Todd had been staying at their uncle's house, but Karin had stayed over at my house with me for the last two nights.  
  
Today was a grim day since today was a Monday, and Delilah's funeral. Karin and Todd had permission to stay home from school, and my dad called for permission for Delia and myself to stay home from our classes as well-- today and tomorrow. Tomorrow, we would use our day to go see John and how well he was recovering.  
  
"I'm gonna go get dressed," Karin said and picked out some clothes from her duffel bag by the door by the hall.  
  
I nodded and left the living room to change as well. I pulled a pair of black slacks and a black, long-sleeved shirt out and slipped them on quickly. When I left my room, Karin was sitting on the couch in a black skirt and a crimson camisole. She was listening to her CD player and humming the song she was listening to. She was writing something at a fast pace in a little leather notebook. I came up behind the cough and placed my left hand on her shoulder softly. She jumped, and immediately closed her notebook and turned off her CD player.  
  
"What were you writing?" I asked her.  
  
"A letter," she said slowly. She looked up at me with a small smile on her face. I leaned in and kissed her quickly just as the door opened and four people came in. Delia, Todd, and my parents. Delia and Todd were talking about baseball and my parents were talking about something softly to where I couldn't here it.  
  
"Dad, where are we going?" Delia asked.  
  
"A funeral," my dad answered, rubbing his stubby chin.  
  
"I told you," Todd whispered to her. I grinned as Karin came and stood beside me. I looked down at her. I noticed two things different about her. She seemed colder, like a part of her iced over and an uncertain new inner beauty seemed to glow around her. My dad cleared his throat noticeably, and one second later, that glow around Karin had disappeared.  
  
"When are we going?" she asked quickly.  
  
"Once Delia changes," my mom answered and gave Delia a shove towards her room. She followed her quickly, holding a small black dress.  
  
Todd looked up at Karin with a strange look on his face that quickly changed to a different one. I looked at Karin. She seemed to be concentrating hard on something.  
  
Before I knew it, Karin was tugging my hand saying it was time to go. I looked at Delia and saw her in a black dress, complaining about it and how it felt on her.  
  
"Delia, you have to wear the dress. I have an extra pair of clothes for you so you can change after the funeral," my mom told her.  
  
Once I shut the door and locked it, I looked down at Karin. She seemed much more distant than usual.  
  
POV CHANGE-KARIN  
  
I sighed as we drove on the interstate towards the church where they would be holding Delilah's funeral. Today would be an odd day, I thought. It was the Catholic church that we'd grown up in. We had been Christened together, been to our Confirmation together, been class teachers together and played instruments in the choir together. That church held so many memories that would be hard to let go of.  
  
My hand inched up to my head when a throbbing feeling began near my temple. Is sighed again as Ephram took a hold of my free hand and squeezed it softly. I smiled weakly at him and began to prod a spot on my purse that had become suddenly interesting. I wanted all of this to go away as quickly as possible, to wake up from this bad dream, to go home.  
  
POV CHANGE-DOC BROWN  
  
I looked in my rear view mirror and saw Karin poking her purse. Delia and Todd were talking about baseball teams quietly. Ephram looked deep in though about one thing or another; probably something I would not want to know about.  
  
"How about some music?" I asked, hoping to liven everyone's spirits a bit.  
  
"Andy," Julia said from beside me. I nodded and continued driving towards the church when a rain drop fell on the windshield.  
  
"Great," I mumbled. I Looked in my mirror again and saw Karin lying her head on Ephram's shoulder  
  
POV CHANGE-KARIN  
  
It was still storming when we got back to Ephram's house. It was nearly midnight now. Lightning was still popping here and there outside. I'd never been too terribly fond of thunderstorms. I looked over at a clock and saw it was almost midnight. Everyone else was asleep, or at least I thought so.  
  
I counted down the minutes until midnight silently in my head.  
  
It was thirty seconds until Tuesday...twenty seconds...five seconds...four...three...two...then BANG!  
  
A loud crash sounded and I nearly fell over. I looked up at the front window by an instinct and thought I saw a dark figure moving by my car, but when I turned my head to get a better look, it was gone.  
  
"Karin," a voice whispered.  
  
"Y-yeah?" I stuttered, a little shaken from the last bolt.  
  
"You're still up," Ephram said, more than a statement than a question, then walked over to the couch and sat beside me.  
  
"Yeah. I couldn't sleep. I was thinking about earlier," I mumbled. I gently lay my head on his shoulder as he slipped an arm around my waist.  
  
"You're a real sweet boy, Ephram; don't ever lose that. OK?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"OK?" I repeated, a little firmer than the first time.  
  
"OK," he said, resigned.  
  
"Now; what did you need?" I asked, closing my eyes.  
  
"I was actually getting some water, but I decided to come see you and see if you were awake, which you are," he mumbled, yawning.  
  
"If you're tired, go to sleep," I told him, patting his hand.  
  
"I'm not really tired. It's just that feeling when you wake up in the morning and you can't get back to sleep," he explained, standing up and walking to the window towards the cars.  
  
"Ahh."  
  
"Do you want to go into the kitchen?" Ephram asked.  
  
"Sure." We slowly and quietly made our way into the kitchen, trying not to wake his parents as we walked past their door. "So, what do you need to talk about?" I asked.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"I've known you long enough that when you need to talk about something, you want to talk alone, away from other people," I murmured, sitting down at the counter.  
  
Ephram sighed audibly; "My dad. He's just-"  
  
"Distant?"  
  
"Yeah. Ever since I was six and he started his stupid practice as a doctor, it's been like that."  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
Ephram sat down at the bar with me and took my hand in his. I looked at him and smiled weakly.  
  
"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I hardly knew my father as well and he was taken from me," I soothed, patting his hand again.  
  
"Yeah," he sighed. "What happened to them? You parents, that is."  
  
"They were killed in front of my eyes. I swore to myself that day that I would bring their murderer to justice," I said, clenching my fist of my free hand.  
  
"That's a big job, isn't it? Finding someone in New York that you haven't seen in a few years?"  
  
"But I know who killed them. He used to be one of my teachers. I made him quit teaching by saying I would shine light on the matter to the administrator if he didn't leave."  
  
"Did you?"  
  
"No." I pulled my hand from his and chewed my nails again.  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Because I was young. Because he swore to me that if I told anyone he would find and kill me. He said he would give me an excruciating death that people would mourn for years and pray would never happen to them." I drew in a deep breath. "And that scared the wits out of me, so I didn't tell anyone."  
  
"He needs to be put to death, Karin. We can't let him run around looking for people to kill," Ephram said.  
  
"He's tried to kill me before, Ephram," I said quietly. "Remember that story about me and my friends dying a few months ago?"  
  
He nodded.  
  
"That was him."  
  
SOOO SORRY EVERYONE FOR NOT UPDATING!!! I've been really busy with writing stories and work and everything that I got caught up in it all and lost my time!! Please forgive me, and enjoy the new chapters since I have conquered writer's block!! HOO-YAH!!! 


	14. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: Alrighty. Who really reads these things anyway? They get kind of boring after a while...Anyhow. I do not own Everwood. WB Network owns Everwood and any other shows that they air. I know you're all tired of all of this junk of rambling, so I'll shut up after some thanks and some notes to you all!  
  
JustNheaVen - hey! How are ya? Hope you've been enjoying the story!  
  
Meg - Hey girl! How have you been doing? Been a while since I've heard from you. Hope your great!  
  
Sk8tboardrider12 - Welcome aboard to the Ephram's Angel list thingy ma bobber! Whatever you want to call this. Anyway, hope you're enjoying everything!  
  
ShaniaTwainrox74 - Thanks for hanging around with us, amidst my terrible writer's block I went through!! Enjoy!  
  
Faith - How ya been doing? Haven't heard from you since ch. 11! Oh well. As long as you're reading still and enjoying this!  
  
And, a sad goodbye to my friend Josh, otherwise known as Valenil on ff.net. He has moved somewhere else and won't have internet for a while. If you're able to read this, Josh, I'm praying for ya! Miss ya! Hope to talk to you soon!  
  
I think that's everyone for now. Anyone that's not on my mailing list yet, email me at Fallenangel19902003@yahoo.com and I'll put you on the list. Bon appetite!  
  
Chapter 12  
  
POV-KARIN  
  
I sighed as Ephram and I sat down at the food court in the mall. We'd had no luck whatsoever trying to find my parents' murderer. I knew he worked somewhere in the mall, I just didn't know exactly where. He had been right those three weeks ago - it was hard trying to find someone in New York.  
  
"Are you hungry?" I heard Ephram ask, drawing me from my thoughts of revenge.  
  
"What? Oh, kind of," I answered quietly, pulling myself back to May 9th, 2001, three and a half weeks after my eighteenth birthday.  
  
"Karin, don't worry about it. We're taking a break, so that means no thinking about it." Ephram grabbed my hand and squeezed it gently.  
  
I nodded, then clenched my free hand into a fist around a small paper towel with cubes of ice in it.  
  
"Did we really have to do that wood burning? I smell like a sauna and my hand is dying, regardless of the icing or not," I murmured.  
  
"Yeah. But there was really no way around it. He said if we wanted information on this 'Mr. Sanders' then we'd have to help him burn some wood," he said, clenching the ice pack we'd taken from the shop.  
  
I rolled my eyes and loosened my grip on the ice pack when I heard the ice crunching quietly under my vice, unintentional grip. Today would be a long one. It was only noon, and we had started searching the huge mall at eight, before everything opened.  
  
"Are you sure it was this mall, Karin?" Ephram asked.  
  
"Yes, I'm-"  
  
A gasp caught in my throat as I saw a shadowy figure stalk from behind a plant to the west side of the mall. I stood up, my pulse racing, and quickly walked after him, leaving Ephram behind.  
  
"Karin, wait!"  
  
"Shh!" I hissed. I slowed my pace slightly for Ephram, then, when he caught up, sped up again. We continued slowing down and speeding up until we were about ten feet behind him. He turned slightly and looked over his shoulder, and Ephram and I quickly jumped behind a plant.  
  
"Thank you God for the little things in life," I murmured aloud. I peered over one of the great leaves on the giant plant and saw the figure running from the store.  
  
"Come on!" I said quickly, then ran towards the exit, Ephram trailing behind. I ran outside, then down to my car, neatly parked in a space near the front.  
  
"Is that him?" Ephram asked.  
  
"Yes!" I said through clenched teeth as I jumped in my car and tried to crank it up. "Stupid car, go! Come on!" I continued turning the ignition until finally, it roared to life. "Yes! Let's go!"  
  
I quickly backed out of the parking space, then drove off after the tan Mustang GT that our prey had driven off in.  
  
"You're sure that was him?" Ephram asked as we followed at a safe distance behind the tan vehicle in front of us.  
  
"Absolutely positive. I'll never forget how that man moves and walks," I said icily towards the car.  
  
"But you couldn't see his face," he went on.  
  
"So?"  
  
"So this could be the entirely wrong person that drives the same car Mr. Sanders did."  
  
When we stopped at a stop sign and waited for some small traffic to pass, I looked over at Ephram and conjured up a look that only a woman who knew she was right could.  
  
"Or, maybe this is the right car and you're right," he said quickly.  
  
"Thank you." We took off again and drove until we pulled into an apartment complex in an 'iffy' place in New York.  
  
POV CHANGE-EPHRAM  
  
It had been three hours since we drove into the dark apartment complex. The constant sound of Karin squeezing her now wet paper towel that once held ice echoed in the alleyways. Every now and again, we would hear yelling and distant traffic.  
  
"Karin?" I said quietly. "Nothing's happening."  
  
"Something will, Ephram. Something will, trust me." She had a grin of pleasure on her face, like she was actually enjoying this.  
  
About half an hour later, Karin's cell phone rang.  
  
"Hello?" There was a silence. "All right. Okay. But-! But Uncle Charles-! Oh, all right. See you in a few minutes." She hung up her phone and sighed.  
  
"What'd your uncle say?" I asked.  
  
"He said we had to go back to his house. Everyone's having dinner at his house tonight," she said irritably.  
  
"All right."  
  
She sighed again, threw a glance at the apartment complex, scribbled something down on a notepad, then drove away.  
  
After about fifteen minutes of driving, we were a few blocks to her uncle's house, Karin suddenly pulled into an empty parking lot.  
  
"What's wrong?" I asked her.  
  
She took a deep breath and clenched her fists. Then, she slammed her fist down on the horn of her car and held it there for a few seconds.  
  
"Karin?"  
  
"This close!" she said, half-shouting. "This bloody close! If Uncle Charles hadn't called, then we would have had him!"  
  
"Karin, I know. But maybe we weren't supposed to get the bad guy yet," I told her, grabbing her shaking hand.  
  
"You're right," she scoffed. "We weren't supposed to get him yet. Someone has to die first. Someone always does."  
  
"What are you talking about?" I asked, puzzled.  
  
"Nothing, never mind. We're going to be late." With that, she pulled out of the parking lot and drove the rest of the way to her uncle's house.  
  
POV CHANGE-KARIN  
  
'How could I have been so stupid? We weren't supposed to get him yet! Somebody-and I know who-has to die first. I don't look forward to that day at all and what the task is for me to carry out.'  
  
I closed my journal with a snap and rolled over on my bed. Delia, Ephram, Todd, John, and I were all staying at my uncle's house. The boys were in the far guest bedroom near the kitchen, and Delia and I were in the other one near the bathroom.  
  
I was just about to turn off my light when I heard footsteps coming down the hallway towards the room. I swallowed, slight fear erupting inside of my.  
  
"Karin."  
  
The young voice reassured me of my safety.  
  
"Yes, Todd, what do you need?" I asked him, trying to control my shaky voice.  
  
"You know what's going to happen and you didn't tell Ephram." He looked at me and his eyes glistened slightly.  
  
"How could I tell him? It was hard enough to let him know about the story when Sanders tried to kill me the first time, and I wasn't even tell the story," I said as Todd sat on the end of the bed.  
  
"You need to have faith that he'll be able to listen, to handle the realization of the matter, and to accept what you really are, Karin. You need to tell him," Todd told me quietly.  
  
"I know, Todd. It's not so easy being an-"  
  
"Shh!" Todd hissed quietly, pointing at Delia. "She might hear."  
  
"Right. Thanks Todd. I'll tell him tomorrow." I smiled at my little brother and kissed his head. She smiled back and walked down the hallway again. I turned my lamp off and laid down then went to sleep.  
  
POV CHANGE-EPHRAM  
  
I yawned as Karin and I drove down the interstate to go to her 'surprise' place. She hadn't been so happy this morning, and was still quiet even now as we topped the speed limit by five. It was only seven in the morning, and she had woken me up at five. We'd been driving for one and a half hours to this place she said that would explain a lot of things.  
  
"Karin?" I said at length.  
  
"If you're going to ask where we're going, the answer is no, I'm not going to tell you," she said quietly.  
  
I nodded and sighed. All we heard now was the hum of the cars around us and the clank of Karin's own car. Wind blew her hair around her head, creating a small halo almost. I continued thinking of all the places we might be going.  
  
'Couldn't be the theatre. They don't run this early, plus, how would it explain anything? It's not this far to the ferry station to go see the Statue of Liberty. I can't think of anything else in this direction," I thought.  
  
I looked over at Karin, who was slowing down as she passed by a cop on the side of the road. He turned his lights on and drove close behind Karin's car. She mumbled something inaudible and pulled off to the right side of the road.  
  
When the policeman parked, Karin pulled her driver's license and ID card out, as if it were a routine.  
  
"Not you again," she mumbled.  
  
"Haven't I seen you before?" the cop asked.  
  
"Yes. Five weeks ago, you pulled me over since you thought I was too young to have a license, and here it is. Not expired, I have my ID card with me, and he is family," she said, gesturing over to me with a bored expression on her face.  
  
"You sure you want to be driving with this girl, son?" the cop asked me.  
  
"Yes, quite sure. She said she's got a surprise place she wants to take me. She hasn't told me yet," I said, yawning.  
  
"Mind telling me the place, Miss?" the cop asked her.  
  
"Sure. We're going to-"  
  
She finished by whispering something at a pitch I couldn't hear. The policeman laughed and nodded his head.  
  
"You kids be careful now," he said as he gave Karin her ID card and drivers license back.  
  
"Yes, sir!" she called as she pulled her seatbelt on again.  
  
"You just lied to an officer," I told her with a grin as we drove off again.  
  
"What? When?" she asked, glancing over at me.  
  
"You said I was family. I'm not," I told her meticulously.  
  
"My uncle is basically your uncle in a way, so yeah, we're like distant cousins removed many times," she said, smirking. "I'm dating my distant, many times removed cousin."  
  
"Better than dating your first, no times removed cousin," I joked.  
  
"Oh, what will we do with you?"  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Okay, guys. There's some important information coming your way in the next couple chapters. I don't know whether I should make Karin tell Ephram straight, or wait until the 'surprise' happens. So, in reviews, emails, et cetera, tell me what you think I should do. Your choices are to tell Ephram straight, or wait until the surprise. So, emails or whatever, and whatever happens the be the most by the time I'm getting to that part, then that'll be the way it comes. Happy voting!!  
  
Oh, and wood burning really is painful! I did that earlier today, and my hand is still sore!! Squeezing a paper towel with ice in it does help, but faintly. I burned a ship, a cat, and a pair of horses. Anyway.. They came out alright. TTYL! Oh, one last thing. I might start a sequel for this to make it easier on you all, alrighty? You can vote for that or just say you want to put everything on this one still. It wouldn't be a different story. It'd still be this, but just in a different link. Anyhow, tell me what you think, and I'll ttyl! 


	15. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: Ach..these things get in the way so much, don't you agree? I do not own Everwood or any of its characters. I only own Karin, the late Delilah, Todd, John, and any other characters I made up and are only a figment from my imagination to yours..satisfied? Ok, if not, get over it! *grins*  
  
A/N: This will be in no one's POV for a little while, k? Just straight writing.....sometimes first person writing is annoying.  
  
Chapter...13?  
  
Karin sighed as she pulled into an empty parking space in front of an old, condemned building. The windows were shattered from people throwing rocks into them, the old stone crumbling day by day, deteriorating slowly to dust. It was here that Karin had first met Delilah. Delilah in a desperate attempt to free herself of pain of loosing family, but Karin had stopped anything bad from happening.  
  
It was here that Karin had first faced the evil that had mixed in with the goodness of her own soul, had faced her parents' murderer one on one in nothing more than a fantasy. And it was here that she would end the evil, end the life of the tainted blood of humanity, and also end the lie she had been living ever since she had met Ephram Brown.  
  
Karin ringed her hands together nervously, knowing what she had to do, and how she hated what she had to do. She bit back the bitter tears of truth that welled in her eyes and stung like fire.  
  
"Ephram," she began slowly. "I, uh."  
  
'Just spill it, Karin,' a voice from inside her head told her.  
  
"I'm not who I say I am, Ephram," she said slowly after taking a deep breath, regaining control again.  
  
Ephram looked over at her in a puzzled and perplexed expression. He opened his mouth to say something, but Karin quieted him.  
  
"Don't say anything yet, Ephram. This is hard enough as it is. Let's go inside," she said, opening her car door and stepping out. She let out an inaudible whimper and emitted a silent prayer asking for strength.  
  
"Karin, why are we in a church?" Ephram asked when they reached the large doors.  
  
"Because, that's how Fate set this out, Ephram. We mustn't question their decisions," she answered, pushing the door open and walking in.  
  
'This is it, Karin. You have to tell him or nothing will go right. You won't be able to save him, or yourself,' she thought. 'Be strong.'  
  
They walked silently passed the entrance hall into where the altar would be. Karin sighed, still wringing her fingers together nervously.  
  
'This is it,' she told herself again. 'No turning back. Just say it straight and then do what you have to do.'  
  
"Ephram, I'm an angel," she said when she had mongered up the strength to tell him.  
  
"What?" He looked at her with a look beyond reason.  
  
"God sent me back to earth after I died to avenge my parents' death. They died without reason, so did I. I died when I was about twelve. My parents left me in their car when they were getting some groceries. The car was hit and knocked into a drain. I remember everything perfect," she said, biting back tears.  
  
"I was killed from the impact, but felt like I didn't die. My spirit still walked around until-until I got out of the car and saw it happen." A tear swept over her face. "I walked to the bazaar and my hand was bleeding. I was panicked, and then I saw it. It happened so fast, but it seemed an eternity. I saw the accursed man shoot off two silencer bullets, each hitting my parents solely in the heart."  
  
Karin finally let the tears fall freely from her face, not caring anymore.  
  
"I saw the evil that had consumed him and followed him until we reached here, Ephram. This very place."  
  
A long silence ensued, a very uncomfortable one at that. Ephram was letting this sink in, and Karin was looking frantically around her.  
  
"Where are you?" she suddenly cried out. "Come out and do your job if you're going to do it! I know what's supposed to happen, so make it happen!"  
  
"Karin, what are you talking about?" Ephram asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.  
  
Karin ignored him, saying, "He's going you kill you Ephram, in a desperate attempt to ruin my way to avenge my parents' death. I couldn't change fate no matter how I wanted. I was slowly drawn here to let the deed happen, whether I wanted it to or not."  
  
Ephram opened his mouth to say something, but stopped, a strangled choking sound catching in his throat. He reached a hand down to his stomach and slowly brought it back up to his face. His fingers were covered in blood.  
  
"I'm sorry, Ephram," Karin whispered.  
  
It was happening again. Everyone that Karin had ever held dear to her heart was leaving her. All by the same person, too.  
  
She watched Ephram die, before her eyes. She saw him fall onto his knees with a sickening thud, and then fall onto the ground, through her. She threw her head back and emitted a scream, echoing in the large hall. She looked around her and saw the dark shadowy figure. Suddenly, like a blow to the face, Karin remembered her plan to get rid of the evil forever.  
  
A long silence took the air again, the two staring at each other with grim satisfaction in each other's eyes.  
  
"Too late, missy. I've won," the figure hissed from behind his high topped jacket and deep hat.  
  
"I don't think so, Sanders. Game over," she hissed back, kneeling beside Ephram. "Father, give me strength!" she cried out suddenly, making Sanders wince. She slowly pulled Ephram's head onto her lap and brought her lips close to her ear.  
  
"Ephram, don't leave me. I see now that I could have changed your fate. I was just scared. But I'm not afraid anymore. Don't leave me, I love you," she murmured and kissed his forehead.  
  
Then, a sudden whoosh of air surrounded the three people in the church. The wind formed a halo around Karin's head, a sudden glow forming around her.  
  
"NO!" Sanders cried, attempting to flee from this place, but found he couldn't.  
  
His legs were planted in the same spot as soft whispers swirled in the wind. The soft, ethereal glow around Karin expanded throughout the room, a blinding white light replacing it suddenly. A shrill, hollow scream was heard, then absolute silence. The room darkened into the sudden night.  
  
How long that had lasted, no one could tell, for all sense of time seemed to have disappeared. The light had blinded like the sun, and the silence rang through the air like the dead. The noise of traffic outside was lost, and the twitter of birds had died into nothing.  
  
In that day, a life force too strong for anyone to comprehend had taken place, destroying the evil that had mixed in with the goodness of the hearts of saints. The life force created was a new one, and bestowed into the heart of an innocent death, slowly bringing it out of the depths or the hollow, dark, empty barrows of darkness. The light had pierced the air like a needle would a soft fabric, creating a beautiful stitch among thousands that made the tapestry of life all the more beautiful.  
  
In that day, evil had been penetrated like it was nothing by the good of one person, with a great army at their back, with them all the while.  
  
In that day, nothing would be forgotten to any of the witnesses, which were only three people: Ephram Brown, Karin Dunlapp, and the late Mr. Joseph Sanders.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~  
  
Oh where oh where can my baby be  
  
The Lord took her away from me  
  
She's gone to heaven soI got to be good  
  
So I can see my baby when I leave this world  
  
We were out on a date in my daddy's car  
  
We hadn't driven very far  
  
There in the road straight up ahead  
  
A car was stalled the engine was dead  
  
I couldn't stop so I swerved to the right  
  
I'll never forget the sound that night  
  
The screaming tires the busting glass  
  
The painful scream that I heard last  
  
When I woke up the rain was pouring down  
  
There were people standing all around  
  
Something warm flowing through my eyes  
  
But somehow I found my baby that night  
  
I lifted her head she looked at me and said  
  
Hold me darling just a little while  
  
I held her close I kissed her our last kiss  
  
I found the love that I knew I have missed  
  
Well now she's gone even though I hold her tight  
  
I lost my love my life that night  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
I do not own the song that I put in here when I finished writing the next update. Yes, it's written, but I'm not going to update this yet. On Tuesday I will update. You have my word. Now, the hard part is remembering. *shrugs* Anyway..I thought this song really explained a lot..thanks for reading!! 


	16. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: Still, nothing's changed. I don't own Everwood...I don't own Ephram..I don't own Andy, Delia, Julia..blah blah blah..Who bloody cares? Not meeeee *grins again* But I do however own the location of the last chapter since I made that up, and I own the characters of my mind in this. But, I do not own the line "New life defeats death.." That's from Final Destination 2. AND, I don't own the song Last Kiss by Pearl Jam. It's an awesome oldies song that I LOVE and drive my brother crazy with. Anyhow..be a good reader and review please!! Comments are greatly appreciated!! Whoopee..  
  
A/N: This MIGHT be the last chapter.I don't know..If it isn't, expect at least one or two more. I'm not going over three, including this one here. So please enjoy this while it lasts..This is gonna be on the sad side since I have to start school again..today...and also I'm listening to a sad song. I'm also out of coffee ice cream..which is the substance that broke my night fast. Heehee. Anyhow..enjoy!  
  
Chapter 14  
  
POV-ANDY BROWN  
  
It had been three weeks since Ephram had used Karin's cell phone to call me. He'd told me to hurry to the old, condemned Catholic church about three hours north of the house. I had been puzzled when he said to do so, but when I began to question him, he suddenly blurted out it was an emergency then hung up. He'd sounded tired, as if he had just woken up.  
  
I had wasted no time then in finding Julia and taking her with me to drive the excruciating long ride to Ephram's location.  
  
"Dad," I heard Delia ask me. "Are Ephram and Karin going to be okay?"  
  
"Ephram will, but I don't know about Karin," I mumbled.  
  
We were at the hospital right now, standing outside of Karin's hospital room. She was still unconscious from whatever had happened that day, but Ephram had only a puncture wound on his stomach. The doctors had sworn it was a bullet hole, but found no bullet so just assumed that he had fallen against something.  
  
"Doctor Brown, she's awake," one of the nurses said.  
  
"Oh, good." I felt a wave of relief wash over me.  
  
"She wants to talk to you," she told me, stepping in front of Delia to block her way in.  
  
I nodded and walked in slowly, nurse in front of me now.  
  
"She's very tired, and I'm only going to let you in for a few minutes. She said she had to talk to you and that it was important," she whispered. "Ten minutes at the most."  
  
"Alright."  
  
The nurse left quietly, leaving me to find out exactly what happened. I had a feeling that was what she was going to tell me.  
  
"Hey, kid," I told her as she glanced at me.  
  
"Hey," she said quietly.  
  
"What'd you need to talk to me about?" I asked her. She heaved a sigh carefully and closed her eyes.  
  
"You know most of the story, Andy. But you didn't know that I could give my immortality up to someone I truly loved, and that was Ephram." A long moment passed before she spoke again. "I knew that someone was going to try to kill him that day. I'd known it even before I had dreamed of it. I thought that I wouldn't be able to change the future, but saw that I could have if I had really wanted to and wasn't scared."  
  
She sighed again, opening her eyes to look up at me.  
  
"I was scared that I might mess something up then, and that I'd lose my immortality too soon, and then Sanders would have killed us both, achieving his goal. I wouldn't be able to come back to stop him, and neither would Ephram. He wouldn't have the same reason as I would to have the bittersweet taste of revenge." A tear rolled down her cheek.  
  
"Did everything work?" I asked her.  
  
"You tell me. Is Ephram alive?" she asked, closing her eyes again.  
  
"Yes. New life defeats death."  
  
"Is Sanders dead?"  
  
"No one found him yet. All they found was a tall, tan jacket, and a deep hat the same color." This problem still confounded me.  
  
"Then he's gone."  
  
A long moment passed again.  
  
"Doctor Brown, time's up," the nurse said.  
  
"I'm not finished yet," Karin snapped at the nurse. I grinned when she quickly left the scene.  
  
"What's left to tell now, Karin?" I asked, sensing her exhaustion.  
  
"I can't go home," she murmured quietly. "The Big Guy and I made a deal that if I did this, and gave my immortality up, then I couldn't return."  
  
"You are home, Karin."  
  
"Thanks." She smiled faintly, then sighed. She obviously fell asleep after that. I couldn't blame her. Giving up a big part of you for someone else was a big job. I'd seen something like that happen before. I'd transplanted brains and other things to save people, but never had I seen something this spectacular in my entire life.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ONE WEEK LATER~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
POV-KARIN  
  
'It's been four weeks since everything happened. I'm still tired a lot, but not as much. But no one blames me. Ephram's all right, he just has some problems moving sometimes from his stomach wound. Julia's shaken up; Todd's just fine. He's acting like nothing happened, but I know good and well that he understands everything as well as me, or more. John isn't giving Ephram a hard time anymore. And Andy, he's still running around in shock of everything, blabbering about how it was an extraordinary experience and that everyone should be happy that Ephram and I are even alive still since if something, one thing, I quote, had gone wrong, everything would be lost.'  
  
"Hey," Ephram said, sitting down behind me out in Central Park.  
  
"Hey." I looked back at him over my shoulder, then turned to face him. "How's the stomach?"  
  
He shrugged; "It's all right. How about you and your sleep? Have you been getting enough?"  
  
"Yeah." I yawned slightly at the mention of sleep. I laughed after I finished.  
  
"Dad's still running around, philosophizing about everything." Ephram rolled his eyes.  
  
"Well, you can't blame him, Ephram. Although I did explain it to him, I left a few things out. Things I don't understand yet myself," I murmured.  
  
POV CHANGE-EPHRAM  
  
I smiled at Karin at the mention of the explanation. Although I hadn't been told everything, I had a feeling that I knew more then my dad did. I just had a feeling that everything was going to be okay, that she was here to stay with me.  
  
Karin was staring out into the woods, looking for something, I thought, but didn't know what. I placed a hand on her shoulder gently.  
  
"I'm going to go back. Are you going to come with me?" I asked.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
She took the hand I offered to help her up. I sighed audibly and linking fingers with her, heading home again. I heard her humming a song quietly, switching from murmuring the words to the tune and back again.  
  
"What are you humming?" I asked as we walked passed a bus stop.  
  
"'Last Kiss' by Pearl Jam," she answered quietly.  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Gosh, Ephram. Don't you ever listen to the oldies?"  
  
I grinned slightly and shook my head.  
  
"Hey, I bet you I can win if we race home," she said, stopping.  
  
"You're on."  
  
With that, we both took off running to what was our destiny, for it wasn't in our hands, but in God's.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
DONE!!!! I finally finished this!!!! Whoopee!!!! The bad guy is gone!! Back to the pits of you-know-where from whence he came!!! Yippy!!!! *grabs her Elfy boys and dances with them* *clears her throat* Anywho..go re-read chapter 13's end. I put in something that makes me feel better, lol. Anyhow, I honestly want some votes here, people. I don't want an 'I-don't- care' or whatever. Seriously, do you guys want a sequel? I know I said not to mention it, but I changed my mind. Do you guys want a sequel to this? You're choices are 'No, I like how this ended, don't ruin it for me' or 'YES! I want a sequel!' Choose please! Happy voting!  
  
Love, ~Aramis~ 


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